Rattler Nation has learned that the original contract FAMU signed with the Hollins Group, may have violated state laws. From records that we are reviewing and will post later, it appears that FAMU skirted the state's competitive bidding process by executing the $258,100 contract. The Hollins Group contract was signed by Provost Debra Austin. As a former SUS Chancellor you would have expected her to know better.Further, documents obtained by RN show that three days after Austin & Bryant signed the contract with the Hollins Group FAMU officials asked state officials for permission to forego the competitive bidding process because the search for deans was "urgent and they needed an emergency purchasing action." Not surprisingly, FAMU did not include the Hollins Group contract with the letter sent to the state. Hmmmm.....
This begs the question, is the Chicago based Hollins Group close friends of Board Chair Challis Lowe?
| Timeline of Contract Execution with of the Hollins Group | Date |
| Emergency Procurement (FAMU 6C3-.011) | |
| Hollins Group Tax ID number submitted to Debra Austin | February 9, 2006 |
| Letter from Lawrence Hollins acknowledging FAMU’s selection of the Hollins Group & letter of understanding (LOU) and acceptance to do dean searches | February 9, 2006 |
| LOU Appendix A | February 9, 2006 |
| Addendum to LOU | February 18, 2006 |
| Invoice 60018/SBI approved by Debra Austin - $18,366.66 (balance owed $36,733.67) | February 18, 2006 |
| Invoice 60019/College of Education approved by Debra Austin - $15,466.66 (balance owed $30,933.34 ) | February 18, 2006 |
| Invoice 60020/College of Law approved by Debra Austin - $19,333.33 (balance owed $38,666.67) | February 18, 2006 |
| Invoice 60021/College of Pharmacy approved by Debra Austin - $19,333.33 (balance owed $38,666.67) | February 18, 2006 |
| Invoice 60022/School of Nursing approved by Debra Austin - $13,533.33 (balance owed $27,066.67) | February 18, 2006 |
| Emergency Certification Granted for $258,100.00 plus travel expenses | February 21, 2006 |
| Check signed by Bryant and Lowe | March 16, 2006 |
| Trustees Lowe, Holmes, Diallo, | June 1, 2006 |
| | |
da rattler, castell gonna beat dat arse if she ever find out who u are! lol
ReplyDeleteOMG! She's broken more laws than Dick Chaney and Bush !
ReplyDeleteSo Allen, Dialo, Holmes, Jennings, and Lowe got the information almost a MONTH before the June 30th BOT meeting and still said NOTHING????
ReplyDeleteThis says that certification was granted on the 21st. Should I be assuming that the date of the acceptance by Hollins Group was problematic? When was the emergency request made?
ReplyDeleteIs RN falling into a trap in that the Hollins Group will subsequently, be pulled and then we have to start the Prez search all over again?
Anon. 7:40,
ReplyDeletePay attention! This isn't about the Presidential Search. This about the contract for the five deans.
I don't know who you are, how many there are of you, or how you get your information.
ReplyDeleteYou're a better investigator than many law enforcment officers, and you've got more courage than any of the faculty, staff and students at FAMU.
Don't worry about Castell, Lowe/Blow & Co., because they will reap what they sow, and their day is surely coming.
Just keep doing what you're doing!
The truth will set us all free!!!!
I ain't scaaarred @@##@@****.
More power to DA RATTLER!!!!!!!
Da rattler:
ReplyDeleteI think I am paying attention...the Hollins Group just got the Prez search too. (I know you know that) If something is fishy with how they got the Dean searches ie a close affiliation with Lowe...then wouldn't that call into question the Prez search? And subsequently make peeps want to get them off the Prez search? Thanks for the prompt response.
It's not like there has been any progress in the presidential search anyway. Shoot, for that matter what's up with the unfinished searches for the deans of SBI, Pharmacy and Law?
ReplyDeleteDue to the limited value Hollins Group has brought to the dean search process, I don't think its a threat that they are taken off the presidential search. I think it would present an opportunity. An opportunity to have a competitive bidding process, and to find a firm which will find a top leader, and not someone from a small college, looking to upgrade their resume (and see if they can run a larger school).
ReplyDeleteDid you see the Hollins Group results from the Dean search? We need a serious process and seulection criteria before anything. Otherwise our over $200K won't be going very far.
This revelation has got to be the work of another internal whistleblower within FAMU. Castell Bryant has done everthing within to intimidate employees. But nonetheless, her efforts have backfired. She's only producing more and more leaks.
ReplyDeleteYou guys on this blog are true crabs and not Rattlers!! I tell you that you black folks aren't satisfied to D-whiteman come in and take over! Although slavery is over but some of you are still enslaved!!!
ReplyDeleteIf they change the Hollins Group...now then okay, but if they wait three months for an investigation to conclude and then take Hollins off we are back to square 1.
ReplyDeleteTo Anonymous @ 7/14/2006 11:03 AM:
ReplyDeleteThe authors of this blog did not:
-Misreport FAMU's finances
-Slash the recruitment program
-Slash research
-Deny due process to the SBI Eight
-Shut down the Center for Urban Policy without legal authorization
-Illegally withhold the NCAA report from the public
Those wounds were all inflicted by the current interim administration. RN has not done anything to hurt FAMU financially or legally. RN has simply given the public accurate information.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteYou guys on this blog are true crabs and not Rattlers!! I tell you that you black folks aren't satisfied to D-whiteman come in and take over! Although slavery is over but some of you are still enslaved!!!
7/14/2006 11:03 AM
KEEP YOUR HEAD STUCK IN THE SAND, if it makes you feel better.
Define crabs in a barrell?
ReplyDeleteCorbin and Castell coveting the position of president at FAMU. They have done everything possible to discredit the accomplishments of Fred Humphries and they keep coming up short.
The real crabs are Castell and Corbin.
Which one are you?
It simply defines common sense. There are still FAMUans out there who believe that Bryant did not create the current problems our university is facing. They keep on saying: "She needs more time to clean up the university."
ReplyDeleteWell, to paraphrase Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, if you don't know that Castell Bryant is the problem by now, then you will never ever know it.