Sunday, February 20, 2005

ABQ Firm With Sweet Iraqi Deal Has Republican Connection


NOB HILL--Reading the ABQ Journal this morning in the Flying Star, I came across the following article in the business section: "N.M. company transports Iraqi police cadets." Now the company, CSI, does not actually own any planes...it sort of acts as a middleman. Down in the 12th paragraph, in fact the very last sentence in the article, one finds out that the company president and founder is Allen Weh, state Republican Party chairman.

I would agree that there may not be a connection...even if the company did contribute at least $20,500.00 (accordng to Followthemoney.org) to the NM Republican Party last year. That does not mean that they weren't qualified for the job. In fact, they are on the GSA "schedules." This means, to quote from CSI's own website,
Schedules are long-term government-wide contracts established by the GSA with commercial firms. The purpose is to offer federal agencies the ability to purchase services and products conveniently, efficiently, and at discount pricing. All orders placed through GSA Schedules are considered full and open competition, which saves contracting officers valuable time in finding reliable and experienced contractors.
In other words, it would seem to be basically a "no-bid" situation once you are on the list. What a sweet deal. Once you get on the schedule it seems you are sort of trusted to come up with a "discount" price. I sure hope our NM Republican Party chairman does not go broke trying to give too big a discount!

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