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What Did Sandoval Get For $1.2M?: Broadband Project ?Cans Attached to a String'
(Albuquerque Journal (NM) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jul. 1--It appears Sandoval County is the proud owner of a completely useless $1.2 million wireless broadband network.
Records obtained by the Journal show that, since 2005, roughly $1.2 million of taxpayer money has been spent on the Internet network for the Sandoval Broadband project.
But officials say the network will be abandoned as the county starts building a new one from scratch -- a cost estimated at nearly $1 million.
"All the stuff (the county) was promised is vaporware. It doesn't exist," said Eric DaVersa, vice president of a national consulting company brought in last month to review the project.
County Commissioner David Bency used layman's terms to describe what the county has to show for its $1.2 million -- "a series of tomato cans attached to a string."
County Manager Debbie Hays has defended the project and the previous contractor but now claims the county was fleeced.
"It is clear to me at this point that (Dandin Group CEO Dewayne Hendricks) has defrauded us," she said.
Hays said the county is considering litigation and making insurance claims to recover its money.
Project delays
The Dandin Group, a wireless consulting and engineering firm, was hired to build the network. The group began by consulting on the network in 2005.
The company has quit work on the project, which was supposed to have been up and running by today.
County officials still don't have an accurate report of equipment used in the project, but estimate its worth at around $80,000.
No records show exactly where the money was spent after being distributed to Dandin.
Hays said the county now believes Dandin CEO Dewayne Hendricks defrauded the county for equipment costs and will try to recoup all funding Dandin received since 2005.
Hendricks said in a phone interview Thursday that he had no comment regarding Dandin's work on the project because he expected to be sued soon.
The project, once hailed as cutting-edge technology that would thrust Sandoval County into the national spotlight, is supposed to deliver cheap ultra-high-speed Internet access for Internet service providers across the county.
The county plans to sell the network to a private company after its completion with the condition that all county schools, health facilities and emergency services get free access.
NetLogix, a national wireless consulting firm, was brought in about a month ago to review the project and come up with a plan to build it.
A June 28 report from NetLogix estimates the county will need to spend about
$950,000 to build the network.
The majority of that cost, $800,000 -- which is 10 times what Dandin is estimated to have spent -- would go toward equipment.
DaVersa said Thursday that, for $1.2 million, Dandin should have been able to deliver a topof-the-line network.
Instead, he said, the system in place -- which is not working -- could only deliver a tenth of the signal strength Dandin had promised.
"The gear they had up in total brand-new value, from what we saw, is (worth) maybe $40,000," DaVersa said.
DaVersa said that Dandin's system had various kinds of equipment at different sites throughout the county but that there was no connection between the sites -- which are supposed to beam a wireless signal from point to point.
Hays defended giving the initial contract to Dandin, citing the company's resume that includes experience on wireless projects all over the world.
"Dandin's credentials are impeccable ... there was no reason to believe otherwise," Hays said Wednesday.
She said the county believed promises that Hendricks was close to finishing the network before he left nearly two months ago.
"The fact that he didn't complete the project is amazing to me," Hays said.
Hendricks said he left the project after finding out about $252,000 in unaccounted-for funds in the project.
He said that poor accounting practices by former project head Jonathan Mann made him uneasy and that, after finding out about the missing funds, his attorney advised him to leave the project immediately.
"Things were done with the best of intentions, but, at some point, there has to be some accountability," Hendricks said Thursday.
Mann has said the missing funds were the result of an invoice problem caused by Dandin. He said Dandin billed in advance for anticipated spending needs and never returned invoices on specific purchases after the money had been spent.
Mann served as the project's head from its inception and acted as the first CEO of the Sandoval Broadband company, which in turn contracted with Dandin.
Hendricks was hired in early 2005 to install the network infrastructure.
Mann left the project in August 2006, and Hendricks became head of Sandoval Broadband in January of this year.
Hendricks resigned as Sandoval Broadband CEO in mid-May, shortly after the State Auditor began an investigation.
He has since left New Mexico to work on a wireless project in Vermont and New Hampshire.
Records show that Dandin was paid about $630,000 between January 2005 and August 2006 for consulting, engineering and equipment fees.
From August 2006 to December, when the last check was written, the county estimates it paid Dandin an additional $600,000.
Hendricks said Thursday the number was closer to $250,000 between August and December.
Hays said the county is already pursuing a refund from an insurance policy held by Sandoval Broadband, a private company created specifically to partner with the county on the project.
Sandoval Broadband currently has no CEO, board of directors or employees.
Still optimistic
The broadband project has been marred by delays and vague accounting -- including a series of invoices signed off on by Hays with little or no detail on how public dollars were being spent.
Hays has said she approved the invoices because line items of technical jargon would have meant nothing to her and she was paying for a final product.
Hays remains optimistic about the project.
She said that broadband is only six months behind schedule and that the overall goal is still within reach. The new deadline for a completed network is January.
The county still has about $400,000 of its original funding, and there are federal grants and appropriations for the project coming up, Hays said.
County Commission chair Don Leonard said Thursday that the network problem was only a bump in the road and that other aspects of the project had gone well.
Applications associated with the broadband project, such as a new education program being tested across the county and an Internet post-traumatic stress disorder program, have been going very well on preexisting Internet systems, Hays said.
The original goal of finishing the project -- complete with numerous applications and economic development initiatives -- in 2009 with a total price tag of $9 million hasn't changed, she said.
Leonard said that, when broadband is up and running, it will have been worth the wait.
"I've never felt the project was not a good project," Leonard said.
Commissioner Bency is focused on attempting to recover the $1.2 million through legal action or insurance claims.
"It is my intention to nail them to the wall for breach of contract," he said.
To see more of the Albuquerque Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.abqjournal.com.
Copyright (c) 2007, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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