Does Family Matter In Getting No-Bid Contracts?

Unit 5: Millions In Contracts Awarded To Senate President's Son

POSTED: 3:37 pm CDT May 2, 2007
UPDATED: 9:47 am CDT May 3, 2007

CHICAGO -- Unit 5 released the results Wednesday of its investigation into how $100 million in public no-bid contracts were awarded to the stepson of Illinois Senate President Emil Jones.

NBC5 political editor Carol Marin followed the contract trail of a company called Synch Solutions, which is owned by John Sterling, Jones' stepson. Just three weeks ago, Sterling and Synch Solutions had a very good payday -- $45 million in all -- courtesy of the City Colleges of Chicago.

Synch Solutions' headquarters on Wacker Drive sits just blocks from many of its impressive roster of government clients who are located in the Thompson Center, City Hall and the Cook County Building.

But one of its biggest clients -- City Colleges of Chicago -- has awarded Sterling's company with millions of dollars in no-bid contracts for Internet technology work.

Synch's relationship with City Colleges began in 1999, shortly after the company was incorporated by a self-described recruiting manager, Sterling.

Sterling's company was formed as a Minority Business Enterprise, which is supposed to help disadvantaged businesses gain access to government contracts.

Almost immediately, the company received a $375,000 contract from City Colleges.

There would be more to come, as Jay Stewart of the Better Government Association found out when Unit 5 showed him copies of contracts obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

"I mean they are getting big ol' chunks of contracts here," Stewart said.

According to City Colleges records, there was $1.8 million for a four-month contract in 2003, and later that same year, a $12 million contract was awarded.

All told, more than $55 million in City Colleges business went to Synch Solutions from 1999 through 2006.

"No-bid contracts, on their face, I don't think inherently benefit anybody," Stewart said.

Each was a no-bid contract because the state of Illinois passed a law in the early 1990s allowing community colleges to bypass competitive bidding for purchases of computer technology.

Cindi Canary heads the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. When asked if there is a reason to do a no-bid Internet technology contract, she replied, "There's no reason to do a no-bid IT contract that I can think of."

"The whole purpose of the competitive bidding system is to make sure the people of the state get the best services at the best price," Canary said.

A few weeks ago, a bombshell hit at a City Colleges Board of Trustees meeting. The board voted -- with no questions asked -- to award all of the system's IT consulting business to Synch Solutions and Sterling.

Only one company was invited to bid for the business: Synch Solutions.

The contract total was nearly $45 million over the next three years. Since 1999, the grand total of no-bid contracts from City Colleges has been $100 million, Marin reported.

Sterling declined to be interviewed but said in a written statement that his company's work has been exemplary and that politics played no role in receiving any contracts

"Senate President Jones has in no way, shape or form influenced any business that Synch Solutions has earned, ever," Sterling wrote.

The head of City Colleges likewise declined to be interviewed, but in a written statement, Chancellor Wayne Watson praised the work of Synch Solutions.

"The new contract was awarded based on past and current performance of Synch Solutions in a bid-exempt process as provided for under state law," Watson wrote.

But others like Stewart wonder why one company is getting all of the business.

"It strikes me as another in a long line of these friends, sons, daughters, cousins, godsons, goddaughters -- all those sorts of things -- who just happen to always wind up being great consultants for companies that do business with the government," Stewart said.

In April, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Synch Solutions was awarded a $23,000 no-bid state contract for computer consulting, and that the governor's office hired another son of Jones to a state job.

A Jones spokesperson at the time said politics played no role. The senate president said in a statement on Wednesday that he strongly denies any role in helping secure contracts for his son and that he has given him no advice or counsel regarding his business.

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