Details of contract for transparency site not transparent

ProPublica and other organizations requested copies of the Obama administration's $18 million contract with Smartronix, a software company hired to build the Web site "where taxpayers could easily track billions in federal stimulus money." However, the contract and related documents are heavily redacted. The General Services Administration justified the redactions by saying they are allowed if material "involves substantial risk of competitive injury" to a contractor. Of the 59-page technical proposal, 25 pages were completely redacted, and 14 pages had half or more of their content blacked out.

Back in July, a software company named Smartronix landed an $18 million contract to build a Web site where taxpayers could easily track billions in federal stimulus money. It was just another part of the Obama administration’s ongoing effort to bring transparency to stimulus spending, we were told.

But it seems the drive for transparency doesn’t cover the contract itself.

After weeks of prodding by ProPublica and other organizations, the General Services Administration released copies of the contract and related documents that are so heavily blacked out they are virtually worthless.

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Prison corporation subject to public records laws

The Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled that prisons run by Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America must adhere to public records laws, The Tennessean reported. Alex Friedmann, associate editor of Prison Legal News, sued for access to the CCA's government contracts and other records. "With all due respect to CCA, this court is at a loss as to how operating a prison could be considered anything less than a governmental function," Judge D. Michael Swiney wrote in the opinion. However, the court ruled that the Private Prison Contracting Act limits the records that the corporation must make public.

Prisons run by Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America perform a government function and must follow public records laws, the Tennessee Court of Appeals has ruled.

The prison giant appealed the ruling issued last year by Davidson County Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman, who ruled that the corporation was the functional equivalent of government and that its administrators must turn over all records requested by prison reform advocate Alex Friedmann.

Friedmann, the associate editor of the monthly publication Prison Legal News, sued for access to several types of records, including CCA's government contracts, legal settlements and cases where CCA was sanctioned or fined.

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Prison vendor accuses system of secret negotiations with competitor

MHM Correctional Services is suing Florida's prison system for allegedly favoring a competitor through secret deals, The Miami Herald reported. MHM accuses the prison system of holding "secret" and "closed-door" talks with its competitor before MHM learned that its extension proposal was rejected. The governor's office says MHM was rejected because the firm didn't meet the financial soundness requirements.

Florida's prison system is embroiled in a lawsuit filed by an ousted vendor on a major contract that accuses the state of illegally favoring a competitor.

The lawsuit was filed by MHM Correctional Services, which wants to extend its 2 ½ year contract to provide mental health care to more than 15,000 inmates in a dozen South Florida prisons.

In an effort to save money, the state privatized prison health care several years ago, but a legislative watchdog agency said in a report last January that the change has yielded "mixed results.''

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NFOIC Summit: FOI & Infrastructure

James Shiffer, reporter and editor at the Minneapolis Star Tribune; Tisha Thompson, investigative reporter at WTTG Fox 5 in Washington, D.C.; and Jaimi Dowdell, IRE training director and former computer-assisted reporting editor at St. Louis Post-Dispatch, discussed how to use FOI to inform the public about infrastructure issues. Patrice McDermott, director of OpenTheGovernment.org, moderated. Here are some notes from their session at the 2009 NFOIC Summit:

Lessons from the Minneapolis I-35W Bridge collapse:

• The Minneapolis I-35W Bridge collapsed at 6:05 p.m. a couple blocks from the Star Tribune office. James Shiffer said the Star Tribune had a suspicion that there was something in the bridge's history that would explain why the collapse occurred. Reporters used the National Bridge Inventory database as the basis for a front-page story. The bridge had been declared structurally deficient as recently as 2005.
  
• On Aug. 2, the paper filed its two first formal requests related to inspection and maintenance records. Reporters followed up with four additional requests that month about contractors who worked on the bridge. Minnesota Government Data Practices Act requires that relevant corporate records of government contractors are public.
• The conclusion was that the bridge had a design defect dated back 40 years. However, the paper did get Missouri Department of Transportation to acknowledge that part of it was bent. This was visible in photos, and at least one inspection noted the bending. You didn't have to be an engineer to notice.
• This was the most studied bridge in Minnesota. A Star Tribune columnist pointed out that when it was announced that a bridge had collapsed, a lot of people probably didn't have to ask which one.
• The Minnesota Department of Transportation was bombarded with records requests from journalists, lawyers, construction companies and victims. The organization did a good job early on in putting the inspection reports online. They couldn't argue that the information was protected because of homeland security. The bridge was gone.
• Shiffer said MDOT was not good at providing notes, photos and internal documents. The newspaper gave MDOT a draft lawsuit, which got them going. The excuse was that the inspectors were too busy making sure other bridges were safe to answer questions or find records. You want us to do our jobs, right? they asked. Four months later, MDOT dumped data online, but the system was difficult to use. The newspaper reporters were not allowed into the office to view the files.
• The National Transportation Safety Board completed its report, which included citations of documents and memos that MDOT hadn't turned over to the Star Tribune via FOIA and hadn't released on its database.
  
• Jaimi Dowdell said the St. Louis Post-Dispatch used bridge databases to conduct its own analysis the first day after the collapse. Then, reporters began analyzing similar St. Louis bridges by requesting audit and inspection records.
• Tisha Thompson noted that agencies shut down records after the Minnesota bridge collapse. They realized that the records tattled on them.

Lessons from bridges and dams coverage:

• From FOIA documents, Tisha Thompson reported on a Kentucky bridge with rusted bolts and rotten pillars and rails, a Baltimore bridge with loose timber beginning to decay and a D.C. bridge with a tree growing out of its side. (The tree was slowly pulling the bridge apart.)
• Thompson says stories on bridges and dams are the easiest to do because there are federal inspection requirements.
  
• When a dam broke in St. Louis, Jaimi Dowdell's team did an immediate story based on the National Inventory of Dams database. They then requested reports from state studies. In doing so, they found a state clause that sets up an agricultural exemption for dams to be inspected. So many dams were not being inspected because they were under a certain height. It turned into a watchdog story. You never know where FOI paths can take you.
• The dam database has been shut down to the public. It doesn't have data after 2002 because of homeland security concerns.
• Access to records often depends on the agency and who's in charge. Thompson recalled that Virginia shut down records on all 13,000 of its bridges because of homeland security. She had no problems getting dam inspection reports from dams. It was the opposite in Maryland.
• Thompson couldn't get data on a small bridge in the middle of nowhere because of homeland security concerns. Only 72 people passed over the bridge in a day. She explained the ridiculousness of this excuse. The furthest she got was being allowed to view documents in the office. She was not allowed to photocopy them.
• Thompson said that although agencies fought her on the data on the bridges, they replaced every bridge she covered.
• James Shiffer described one of his reporters who talked to the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers concern a dam that the Minnesota hoped to get stimulus money to rebuild. The reporter got full access to inspection reports because the state wanted it fixed. However, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers refused to speak with the reporter regarding another dam next to the Ford Plant that might have water seeping underneath it. The corp used the homeland security excuse. Eventually an interview was reluctantly arranged.
  

Open-government advocates disappointed about watered-down bill

A House bill that was initially lauded by watchdog groups is now being criticized by them, Washington Independent reported. The bill no longer requires all contracts stemming from the stimulus bill to be posted online. Only summaries of contracts worth more than $500,000 will be available to the public.

Internet junkies and wonks alike may have jumped the gun in looking forward to the new online transparency hyped by House members who vowed to put contracts doled out from the $800 billion stimulus package online.

That promise, included in the initial House bill, was hailed by watchdog groups, who pointed to it as real reform in government contracting. However, in a major concession to government contractors, which opposed having the contracts made public, the final bill requires only a “summary of the contracts” to be posted online; and even the summaries will only be available for contracts worth more than $500,000.

According to the law, the government has to provide certain data about federal contracts, including whether the contracting process was competitive, how the contract was awarded, and for those contracts over $500,000 “a summary of the contract.”

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No exemptions for names, birthdays of Pa. contractors

The new Pennsylvania Office of Open Records ruled that names of employees are public records, even if the employees work for government contractors, the AP reported. Government employees' birth dates are also not exempted from the Right-to-Know Law in the state.

Pennsylvania's Office of Open Records says the names of employees of government contractors and the birth dates of government employees are public records.

The new agency said in its first batch of rulings that the names and dates of birth aren't covered by the many exceptions to the state Right-to-Know Law.

The Quakertown Community School District had granted a request to release payroll forms for a subcontractor working on a school renovation project, but redacted the employees' names.

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Exempt Contractors From FOI? A Baaaad Idea in CT...

A bill that would exempt state and municipal contractors from Connecticut's Freedom of Information Act faces an uncertain future amid criticism that it would overturn recent attempts to promote governmental openness and transparency.

Rep. Christopher L. Caruso, D-Bridgeport, co-chairman of the ethics-minded Government Administration & Elections Committee, was sure Tuesday that when the legislation reaches his committee, as anticipated, he would work to kill it.

"It's not going to make it out of committee," Caruso said in an interview.

The bill recently passed the Insurance & Real Estate Committee, where lawmakers including Sen. Joseph J. Crisco Jr., D-Woodbridge, co-chairman of the panel, supported the bill in a 13-4 vote.

Crisco and other proponents of the legislation, including Rep. John Harkins, R-Stratford, another committee member, said the intent of the bill was to protect businesses from revealing some proprietary information, while allowing the public access to data through the Freedom of Information Commission.

Crisco called the bill a "work in progress" and said he is amenable to compromises.

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