Jim Rosica
A contract worth over $260 million for health care at the state’s prisons will stand after an administrative law judge sided with the Department of Corrections.
Wexford Health Sources had challenged the contract for prison health care in north and central Florida awarded to Centurion of Florida.
Centurion wanted to replace Corizon, the current vendor, which is pulling out as of May 31. Wexford provides prison health services in the rest of the state.
The department said that it had authority “to award such a contract without a competitive bidding process,” according to Judge R. Bruce McKibben’s April 6 order.
Wexford argued that the services up for contract were “not worthy of the exemption from competitive bidding contemplated by the Legislature.” Those exemptions are for services that “require an immediate response as the welfare of the patient can deteriorate quickly,” such as for drug abuse.
McKibben, however, cited precedent that “a contract awarded (under) exemption from competitive bidding could not be challenged in an administrative hearing by a third party.”
Wexford’s complaint, “though not without merit, is a matter for resolution by the Legislature,” McKibben added.
In February, DOC spokesman McKinley Lewis told FloridaPolitics.com that the contract was informally offered to “three providers, two of which submitted (prices) that were tens of millions of dollars more expensive than (Centurion’s) price.”
