6:00pm: Sportsline with Tony Caridi

Router-gate

The mismanagement of the multi-million dollar purchase of Internet routers from Cisco by the state of West Virginia has struck a chord under the state Capitol Dome.

Everyone wants to talk, either publicly or privately, about just how bad this deal was and how much money was squandered. Most conversations end with a lot of head shaking and the question, “how could this happen?”

That’s not just a hindsighted lament.  Surely at some point in 2010 during the purchase of 1,164 high-powered Internet routers for $24 million in federal stimulus money, somebody would have questioned the legitimacy of the deal.

Lt. Colonel Mike Todorovich, a member of the Grant Implementation Team that oversaw the project, told the Legislative Auditor, “Those making the decisions on how to spend the money did not consult with individuals with technical knowledge on the best methods to utilize the funds.”

That’s a polite way of labeling what was either incompetence, or worse, a willful disregard for best business practices and the waste of millions of dollars of taxpayer money.

The audit concludes that Cisco up-sold the state and the state Office of Technology and the Broadband Technology Opportunity Program Grant Implementation Team whiffed on a decision that could have been made by anyone who bothered to read the recommendations in Cisco’s own literature.

The deal came when Senator Joe Manchin was Governor.  Manchin, who is not mentioned in the audit, defended the purchases in a statement emailed to me.

“The routers were a long-term investment for West Virginia,” Manchin said.  “We were planning for future growth and wanted to be able to educate our children, create jobs, grow our economy and keep our communities safe well into the 21st century.”

But the audit concluded the high-end routers that have been installed in or are planned for schools, libraries and State Police barracks, wildly exceeded future needs in most cases.  The tiny Marmet Public Library with its lone Internet connection will never need a $22,600 router that could handle a medium-sized business.

The heat is now coming down on the current Tomblin Administration, which has so far also defended the router deal.  It’s hard to imagine why, unless the current Governor fears the wrath of the former Governor if he calls out this pig in a poke.

Still, here’s what Governor Tomblin should do:

–Accept the the audit’s findings as proof that the router deal was botched and pledge to get to the bottom of it.

–Find out who signed off on the router purchase and, if he or she still works for the state, fire them.

–Tell Cisco that if it wants to continue doing business with the state the company will revisit the contract, take back the unused routers and refund the state (or the federal government, since it was federal stimulus money).

–Introduce legislation to prevent the kind of no-bid contract that led to the fiasco.

–Turn over the audit’s findings to the Kanawha County Prosecutor’s Office to determine if any laws were broken.

Just last Wednesday, Governor Tomblin recognized “Digital Learning Day” to emphasize the effective use of technology in the classroom.  Router-gate shows that state government could use some lessons of its own.





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