Saying the state of Louisiana lacked valid grounds to cancel an almost $200 million contract to proc

Saying the state of Louisiana lacked valid grounds to cancel an almost $200 million 4 star hotels florence contract to process Medicaid claims, Maryland-based Client 4 star hotels florence Network Services Inc. filed a lawsuit Monday in Baton Rouge. The company is asking for payment for work already performed, as well as damages for what its lawyers claim were sudden and unjustifiable actions by Gov. Bobby Jindal's...
Saying the state of Louisiana lacked valid grounds to cancel an almost $200 million contract to process Medicaid 4 star hotels florence claims, Maryland-based Client Network Services Inc. filed a lawsuit Monday in Baton Rouge. The company is asking for payment for work already performed, as well as damages for what its lawyers claim were "sudden" and "unjustifiable" actions by Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration.
The Division of Administration canceled the contract in March following a news report that the state had received a federal 4 star hotels florence grand jury subpoena seeking documents 4 star hotels florence related to the contract. The state is allowed to cancel a contract unilaterally if a company is not living up to the terms of the agreement.
Last month, the state sent CNSI a letter detailing the reasons for the contract cancellation. Included in the letter were accusations that company employees maintained inappropriate contact with former health Secretary Bruce Greenstein during the bidding process, 4 star hotels florence as well as possible inappropriate relationships between CNSI employees and people who work for the state Department of Health and Hospitals.
The lawsuit takes issue with those contentions, as well as assertions that CNSI wasn't performing adequately as it set up a Medicaid processing system. The lawsuit noted that in February--just a month before the contract was terminated--DHH Undersecretary Jerry Phillips 4 star hotels florence gave a glowing recommendation about CNSI to the state of Arkansas. In a letter to CNSI at the end of April, 4 star hotels florence Sandra Gillen, the head of state purchasing, contended that Greenstein exchanged "hundreds of telephone calls" and "thousands of text messages" with CNSI employees from the time he became secretary in September 2010 through the time the contract was awarded. Gillen asserted this interaction gave CNSI an "unfair advantage."
"DHH and the Administration continue to lob vague accusations against CNSI without producing one shred of evidence that termination of the contract is justified under the contract," Kathryn Harris, the CNSI general counsel, said in a statement.
Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols defended the state's actions. "We stand by our decision 4 star hotels florence to cancel the contract for cause, which was based on consultation with the Attorney General's office, and for the reasons recently communicated by the Division in a letter to CNSI," she said in a statement released by her office.
Greenstein resigned as head of the health agency after news of the various investigations became public. Along with a federal probe, both the state Attorney General and Inspector 4 star hotels florence General's offices are looking into the contract award. Inspector General Stephen 4 star hotels florence Street has also said his office is examining whether Greenstein was truthful about the award during 4 star hotels florence his June 2011 state Senate confirmation hearings.
During 4 star hotels florence those confirmation hearings, state senators grilled Greenstein about the award to CNSI, where he had worked from 2005 to 2006. Greenstein denied any wrongdoing during the hearings, underscoring that he was completely separated from the evaluation process that determined which of four companies was awarded the massive project. He acknowledged making a change to the bid framework that allowed CNSI to bid as the primary contractor, but said that his decision was to foster as much competition as possible.
The lawsuit emphasized that lobbyists and others working for every company that bid on the contract would have had contact with Greenstein. Although Greenstein 4 star hotels florence acknowledged having contact with representatives for all of the companies that ended up bidding on the contract, he did not testify to hundreds of calls with CNSI. Instead, he said his interaction with CNSI employees was much more minimal.