County solicits proposals for migrant processing center

The county is expanding its talks with emergency shelter and staffing companies to assist it set up a migrant processing middle, but officials won’t say whether its prior talks with Endeavors are on or off the desk.

El Paso Issues last week claimed that the county appeared to be in no-bid agreement negotiations with Endeavors — a company recently cited in a federal investigation for the controversial way it landed and managed a multi-million greenback deal with Immigration and Customs Enforcement previous year.

On Monday, the El Paso County Commissioners Court voted to authorize personnel to meet up with with contractors who are accredited by the Basic Products and services Administration and inquire them to submit proposals for the processing middle.

Corporations mentioned with the unbiased governing administration company have been pre-screened and qualified by the company, giving the federal governing administration entry to their products and products and services at pre-negotiated expenditures. GSA contracting was produced readily available to state and local governments at the start out of the pandemic in early 2020 as portion of the community overall health crisis response.

In an e-mail assertion, county buying agent Karla Davidson claimed the county “may or may not” get a proposal from Endeavors based on no matter whether the San Antonio-primarily based nonprofit is an authorized GSA contractor. The enterprise is listed as a GSA supplier on the agency’s site.

Nonetheless, in a memo dated May perhaps 23, the assistant county attorney’s business states that Commissioners Court “is presently in negotiations with Endeavors for an El Paso County Migrant Processing Middle. The facts to be talked about consists of issues involving small business and money information associated to individuals energetic agreement negotiations.”

The letter was issued as a legal perseverance justifying why commissioners on Could 23 could go into government session “to deliberate business enterprise and financial troubles relating to a deal beneath negotiations.”

Commissioners did not consider any action in the open session subsequent the discussion.

The urgency to set up the processing heart comes as the southwest border is viewing a fast increasing range of migrants making an attempt to enter the United States and in anticipation of Title 42 becoming rescinded.

A general public overall health rule enacted at the get started of the pandemic, Title 42 makes it possible for immigration officers to turn away asylum seekers to handle the attainable transmission of communicable illnesses these as COVID-19. The rule was to be rescinded on Might 23, but a federal choose on Might 20 ruled to keep it in area.

“At the time preliminary discussions started, the lifting of Title 42 was imminent, forcing the County to glimpse at different ‘quick fix’ solutions to stop overcrowding, road releases, and disorderly processing of migrants — a worry expressed by an place NGO and the Border Patrol,” county officials claimed in an e mail statement Tuesday.

“Because the concern is no for a longer time imminent, the path been given by the Court on June 6, 2022, has workers doing the job to take into account proposals from any and all capable GSA contractors,” the statement reads.

County officers in their reaction didn’t tackle the memo or regardless of whether the court docket continued negotiations with Endeavors right after the federal decide dominated Title 42 would continue being in spot.

Unsolicited proposals

Endeavors last 12 months was awarded a controversial no-bid $87 million deal by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to operate a number of hotels to residence migrants for the duration of the pandemic.

Through Endeavors, ICE put in $17 million on lodge rooms that went largely unused, like $9 million in two El Paso resorts, in accordance to a report from the Section of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector Basic.

The DHS Business office of Inspector Typical report launched in April said ICE was not justified in awarding the contract to Endeavors, which presented an unsolicited proposal for housing migrant households in lodges.

ICE documents showed that Endeavors had “no expertise offering the companies covered by the sole source agreement, including resort beds or all-inclusive unexpected emergency spouse and children household services,” the report states. Endeavors only had experience giving staffing for other migrant expert services, and apart from statements built in its proposal, had no documentation to clearly show it experienced the ability to do so, the inspector basic mentioned in the report.

Trying to find remedies

Irene Valenzuela, executive director of the county’s Community Services Department, on Monday mentioned employees has been internally discussing options and collecting facts on what it could do to assist with the inflow of migrants coming through El Paso.

The county is focusing on a processing centre that would aid go migrants who’ve been licensed to remain in the United States out of the location and into other components of the country with their host families, she claimed.

Between the solutions she presented to commissioners were being that the county could get the job done with GSA contractors, put out a formal ask for for proposals, or approve an buy forgoing the bidding system underneath a area of the Texas Government Code that will allow exemptions for competitive bidding.

County officials did not cite which exemption they may well declare if commissioners just take that alternative, and mentioned putting out a request for proposals could get up to 3 months.

Davidson said the county by Monday had by now reached out to 8 probable contractors but are only asking all those who are GSA qualified to submit proposals. She included that contractors are getting questioned to post proposals by the close of the week.

When pressed about the county’s talks with Endeavors especially, county officials on Tuesday early morning reiterated that they’re “considering proposals from any and all qualified GSA contractors, which may perhaps include Endeavors.”

A person of two other contractors who had responded as of Monday is Vighter, a San Antonio-based corporation that delivered products and services in El Paso at the peak of the pandemic when the Texas Division of Crisis Management established up an option treatment website at the Judson F. Williams Convention Heart in Downtown.

The next is La Posada Providencia, a corporation primarily based in Virginia that at present offers expert services in a migrant shelter in Brownsville.

Personnel will next existing the proposals to commissioners, who’ll vote whether or not to contract with a GSA authorised vendor or go after other choices, Valenzuela said.

The Biden administration has allocated $110 million in federal crisis resources to reimburse regional governments and nongovernmental companies for expenses connected to the migrant inflow.

“We want to be realistic and accountable and fiscally dependable,” County Administrator Betsy Keller informed commissioners Monday. She mentioned that even though the federal govt will reimburse the county, the county would likely have to front the cash.

“And it is still taxpayer dollars,” Keller included.