JC BOE rescinds recently awarded contract at special meeting

A special meeting of the Jersey City Board of Education was held to rescind a recently awarded contract for Workers’ Compensation Third Party Administrative Services.

By Michael Shurin/Hudson County View

The Jersey City Board of Education (JC BOE) hosted a special meeting on Thursday, July 31st, to rescind the awarding of a Competitive Contract for Workers’ Compensation Third Party Administrative Services to Deitz & Hammer Alternative Risk Solutions.

According to a letter from JC BOE Business Administrator Luiggi C. Campana, after the contract was awarded “it was learned that the RFP document advised vendors that the scope of work did not include the provision of managed medical care services.”

Campana specifically noted that the “District did not have a separate contract with a managed medical care service provider. Instead, the services were provided through a subcontract with the District’s current Third Party Administrator.”

Cannon Cochran Management Services, Inc., the firm currently contracted for the services, had its contract extended through December 31st, 2014 by the board as part of the resolution.

The re-bid of a contract for “Third Party Administration and Managed Care Services” will be done through a revised RFP.

Local activist Riaz Wahid took issue with the special meeting in an email to Board President Sangeeta Ranade forwarded to Hudson County View.

Wahid questioned whether the public was given proper notice, as well as why the agenda wasn’t posted on the JCBOE’s website early in the morning. He claims that the agenda wasn’t put on the website until 3 P.M., three hours before the start of the meeting.

According to the agenda of the meeting “Proper public notice of the meeting was sent to The Jersey Journal and The Star Ledger on July 29, 2014.”

An ad for the meeting appeared in the August 1st, 2014 print edition of The Jersey Journal. Hudson County View was made aware of the meeting via a post on the Board’s Facebook page. The meeting was held via teleconference.