ATLANTA,None — The Georgia Department of Transportation canceled and re-bid a multimillion-dollar contract to manage metro area traffic after uncovering a conflict of interest.
Now, Channel 2 Action News investigative reporter Jodie Fleischer has learned that one of the men named in that scandal switched companies and won the state contract again.
Georgia's inspector general had no idea that man was involved with the new bid until Fleischer told him. Now he is considering re-opening the investigation.
The $21 million dollar contract to run GDOT's Traffic Management Center includes operators to answer 511 information calls, dispatch HERO units and maintain software.
"In terms of image and importance, it's hugely significant," said GDOT spokesman David Spear.
The agency originally awarded the contract to a company called Serco but later found the company's selection was no accident. One of the driving forces was the Traffic Management Center's director, Anthony Bradford, a GDOT employee who also sat on the selection committee but was secretly on Serco's payroll.
"It's obviously a conflict of interest, who do you represent?" said Georgia Inspector General Deron Hicks.
The inspector general's staff investigated what was at best a conflict of interest, at worst a cash-for-contract payoff.
"We were stunned, I would have to say," said Spear. "Bradford was being groomed for senior management, someone we had a lot of confidence in."
Bradford later told GDOT he was just a Serco consultant, but resigned while under state investigation. The report named two Serco employees: Jon Ringler, suspended for giving Bradford cash, and Marcus Wittich, who lined up work for Bradford and made Serco's presentation for the traffic management contract.
Said Hicks, "They were actually almost at the end of this process when this was brought out by Serco, so they literally had to go back to step one," which GDOT did voluntarily with brand-new bids.
"To protect the process and to give potential other vendors an equal opportunity," added Spear.
During the second bidding process, five companies went after the contract. Serco came in third. The winner was Atkins North America.
"They put on an outstanding presentation for our evaluation," said Spear.
The "they" he's referring to turns out to be the same Marcus Wittich who made Serco's original presentation in front of Bradford, while at the same time getting Bradford outside work. Wittich had resigned from Serco and went to work for Atkins.
"That was surprising that he had made the presentation," said Hicks. "Obviously it raises concern."
The inspector general is now considering whether to re-open the investigation. The Department of Transportation says it couldn't legally keep Wittich out of the process.
"I understand completely that it doesn't look good, and again the simple thing, the easy thing, maybe the smart thing would have been to tell Atkins, he can't be a part of this. But there was no foundation to make that kind of demand," said Spear.
"It may be a gap in policies, procedure or law," said Hicks.
Hicks told Fleischer he plans to discuss the issue with the Department of Transportation and maybe even legislators.
"The whole reason why we avoid conflicts of interest, sometimes it's not because someone is going to do something wrong, but you want to avoid the appearance," said Hicks.
Fleischer contacted Wittich about his role in the new contract. Wittich declined to comment and directed her to Atkins' corporate office.
The company issued a written statement saying the original investigation made no mention of wrongdoing by Wittich, and the company believed he had outstanding skills and an excellent reputation and would be an asset.
However, the inspector general acknowledged his original investigation focused only on wrongdoing by the state employee, Bradford, and not the Serco employees.
WSBTV
