Commonwealth’s attorney to probe Richmond police-car deal

Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney Michael N. Herring said yesterday that his office will investigate whether any crime was committed as part of a nearly $1 million purchase of police cars that violated procurement rules.

He said he could not discuss details and added that it probably would take several weeks to determine whether charges will be sought.

Also yesterday, city and company officials confirmed that Sheehy Ford of Richmond was awarded the 2007 contract to provide 40 Ford Crown Victoria police cruisers for $993,520, an average of $24,838 per vehicle.

Skip Jabbar, a vice president of Sheehy Auto Stores, said sales representatives were surprised that the city's request for bids came with an unusually quick turnaround. But he added that his sales staff responded to the opportunity and aren't familiar with the nuances of city procurement rules.

"It was just a basic contract stipulating what vehicles and options they wanted," he said. "It was just a regular bid."

Jabbar also said he was unaware of any prior interactions between company and city officials regarding the matter. "This is something with regards to the city," he added of the alleged violation of purchasing rules.

City Auditor Umesh Dalal concluded in a report Tuesday that the Department of Procurement Services wrongly treated the purchase as though only one vendor could provide the vehicles when numerous Ford dealers across the city and nation could have.

City officials said Wednesday that Eric R. Mens, director of procurement services, had resigned effective Aug. 30, but his status was unclear yesterday.

In a statement, Mayor Dwight C. Jones announced yesterday that Garland Williams will be serving as acting director of procurement services during an administrative review of the procurement department issues, which is expected to take seven to 10 days. Williams is assistant director of budget and strategic planning.

Jones, who took office in January, also pledged full cooperation with Herring's office during its investigation.

"We want to ensure a procurement process that is fair, competitive, transparent, cost-efficient, impartial and, above all, ethical," Jones said.

City code requires all public contracts with private vendors to be awarded after competitive sealed bidding or negotiation, although exceptions can be made if only one source or vendor is practically available. Mens authorized the sole-source purchase on Nov. 27, 2007, according to Dalal's report.

The investigation found that the deputy director of procurement services, who isn't named in the report, had instructed a contract specialist to send faxes to three Ford dealerships requesting bids for the vehicles.

The faxes went out at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 7, 2007, and they required responses 17½ hours later, at 9 a.m. Nov. 8, 2007 -- well short of the city's requirement that bid invitations be posted publicly for at least 10 days.

City Council President Kathy C. Graziano sought to distance the scandal from the Jones administration. "Clearly, that's something that has to be looked into," she said, "and it happened under the [L. Douglas] Wilder administration."

Councilman Charles R. Samuels blasted the city for failing to give vendors a chance to compete for the public's business. In remarks to a breakfast meeting of the Greater Richmond Chamber, he said city government "is not there for cronyism, nepotism or doing political favors for your friends. It angers me that that kind of behavior went on."

He also said the deal could undermine the city's credibility and attempts to foster regionalism.

"Until the city can earn the respect and trust of the surrounding counties . . . it's going to be difficult to do so," he said.

Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or .

Staff writer Michael Martz contributed to this report.