The Delaware Office of Management and Budget has chastised the Department of Insurance for writing purchase orders – after the fact – for no-bid contracts worth more than a half-million taxpayer dollars.
By Lee Williams
Delaware Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart awarded a professional services contract last August worth up to $700,000 to a New Mexico firm without seeking competitive bids, an action experts say may violate Delaware’s procurement and contracting regulations.
An ongoing investigation by the Caesar Rodney Institute has revealed this is one of many no-bid contracts awarded by the DOI, and then paid for by an after-the-fact purchase order begrudgingly approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
The recipient of the insurance department’s most recent no-bid contract, Regulatory Consultants, Inc. (RCI), was incorporated in 2003 by Nestor J. Romero, who is listed as the firm’s president, director and treasurer.
According to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s office, RCI is one of four Limited Liability Corporations created by Romero. None, including RCI, are corporations “in good standing” with the State of New Mexico.
