DOA --- Where Heads Don’t Roll until Somebody’s Convicted

So, how many state contracts have to be canceled before someone at DOA is held to account?

Steve Bablitch deserves credit for trying to clean up the mess left by his predecessor, Marc Marotta, but at what point will the current DOA Secretary stop blaming the consultants and start holding the Marotta appointees accountable?

Today’s Wisconsin State Journal highlights the latest contract fiasco involving Crowe Chizek, the consulting firm hired by DOA to manage the state server consolidation. Coincidentally, Crowe Chizek employees donated nearly $20,000 to Doyle’s campaign within two months of receiving the $6.7 million contract.

Bablitch canceled the state’s contract with Adelman Travel, scrapped the email migration project with DLT Solutions (at a loss of $2.6 million), and refused to extend a procurement contract with Silver Oak Solutions. DOA has also claimed that Equis Corporation will never receive a 25% commission on state property they sell despite a contract amendment to the contrary.

Not only does there appear to be a pattern of contracts for cash at DOA, but a pattern of mismanaged IT projects and botched procurements as well. Still Division Administrators Matt Miszewski and Pat Farley along with Deputy Secretary Gina Frank Reese and Executive Assistant Sean Dilweg remain at the helm of the agency, even though they could all be fired at will.

What does a person have to do to get fired from DOA, be convicted of a felony in federal court?