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Mon December 29, 2003 - National Edition
HARTFORD, CT (AP) Three months on the job, new public works Commissioner James Fleming said he wants to impose tougher rules for state contracts than the legislature requires.
Fleming said his office plans to tighten not only regulations for selecting contractors on major projects valued over $500,000, but also the smaller jobs, all state leases and facilities management contracts with private companies.
His office is examining the federal procurement regulations and considering adopting some of those standards as well.
These changes come in the wake of a federal corruption investigation involving a former member of Gov. John G. Rowland’s administration who admitted to steering business to certain contractors in return for cash and gold.
"We want to go beyond what the legislature wanted us to do,’ Fleming said.
Earlier this year the legislature passed a far-reaching bill that established a new process for pre-qualifying contractors wanting to bid on major state projects, among other reforms. DPW is supposed to present lawmakers with an update next month on how the new changes to the bidding process are coming along.
Fleming said he hopes to finish the new, tougher rules for awarding contracts, as well as to write informal DPW procedures into formal state regulations, sometime this summer.
"A lot of [contract awarding] was done on a more subjective rather than objective basis," Fleming said. "I think that’s where they got in trouble.
"When it’s in regulations," he said, "it has force of law."
Many of the projects under federal scrutiny, such as the Connecticut Juvenile Training School in Middletown, were fast-tracked by the legislature because of emergencies. That allowed DPW to avoid certain time-consuming checks and balances.
Fleming, a former Republican state senator, took over the Department of Public Works in September after Rowland pressured former Commissioner Theodore Anson to resign. Anson admitted he had accepted architectural work for an addition to his home from a firm doing business with the state.
Rowland said he has given Fleming the ability to hire and fire, and to make changes at DPW wherever he sees fit.
During his first week on the job Fleming banned all gifts –– including tickets, lunches at job sites and Christmas fruit baskets –– from contractors, vendors and other firms doing business with DPW. He sent letters to all of the contractors.
Although state ethics laws allow state employees to accept gifts worth less than $10, the law also allows agencies to adopt stricter standards, Fleming said.
Fleming said he wants to avoid having his employees’ motivations called into question if they accept a gift from a contractor and someday sit on a selection team considering that particular contractor for a project.
"When you get into judgment calls, there’s less chance of somebody questioning you," said Fleming, acknowledging he’s received mixed reactions from DPW employees about the strict gift ban –– similar to the policy Fleming imposed as commissioner of the Department of Consumer Protection.
Fleming also divided the agency into three functions: construction; leasing and facilities management; and a new legal unit.
To gain a better handle on how to fix the troubled agency, Fleming plans to attend a weeklong seminar next month at Harvard University titled "Corruption Control and Organization Integrity." Fleming said he hopes what he learns in Cambridge, MA, will help him change what he calls an "old fashioned" culture at DPW.
”I want to change the culture here that has been around here 30 years. I know that’s going to shake things up,’ he said.