State to negotiate with top bidder for Summit View

Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2002 | 9:01 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Despite some complaints, the state is moving ahead with plans to negotiate a contract with a Georgia company to operate the Summit View juvenile detention center near North Las Vegas.

Purchasing Officer Colleen Janes said state officials will meet with representatives of Securicor New Century in September to start hammering out the language in a contract.

Janes declined to say if the evaluation team that rated the bidders knew about past problems of Securicor in running similar youth detention facilities. But she said the state does a thorough check, looking on the Internet among other forms of investigation.

Janes said the evaluation team did not check the references supplied by Securicor, but she said that was part of the next step in the contract process.

The state Purchasing Division has issued an "intent to award" the contract to Securicor, which runs three juvenile centers in Florida. All of the bidding information is confidential until a contract is awarded.

Janes said that if the losing bidders want to protest, they will have 10 days after the official notice that the contract will be awarded.

The $14 million Summit View facility, with 96 beds for serious male juvenile offenders, opened in 2000 but closed on Jan. 31 after problems with escapes and sex between female staff and male inmates.

Ernie Adler, an attorney for Rite of Passage, which came in second in the bidding, said he plans to appeal the award. He said Securicor had a checkered record at its Florida operations, including escapes and intimate contact between staff and the male juveniles. These were the same problems that plagued the last private contractor, Adler said.

Securicor President Gail Browne said there were some troubles initially when the company assumed control of the detention centers. She said those have been cleared up and that the American Corrections Association has accredited the three facilities.

Securicor is a subsidiary of Securicor Plc, based in the United Kingdom. It has a worldwide staff of 125,000 people that specializes in security, distribution and communications.

Another subsidiary with the parent firm has come under criticism for its security systems at U.S. airports. The federal Transportation Department released an audit earlier this year saying Argenbright Security had lax practices in the hiring of people who screened airline passengers.

The audit said several screeners had criminal backgrounds and that a number of employees were not trained.

The General Accounting Office said Argenbright was put on the list of companies excluded from contracts with the federal government.

Argenbright was responsible for security at many major airports including McCarran International Airport, Newark, N.J., Logan in Boston, O'Hare in Chicago and Dulles outside Washington.