In the News
Bufoonery! Where's Paragon Source When You Need Them?
No-bid contract lawsuit on hold [Huntsville Times, Bob Lowry, 11/17/09]
Officials can't find company or CEO to serve complaint
A judge in Montgomery hasn't set a hearing yet in a suit over a $7 million no-bid computer contract for the state Finance Department because officials can't find the company or its CEO.
State Rep. Alvin Holmes filed suit on Oct. 29 to block the contract with Paragon Source, an Oakton, Va., company that has no corporate address, business phone listing, fax number, e-mail address or Web site.
Tyrone Means, the attorney representing Holmes and the Legislature's Contract Review Committee, said Monday the lawsuit is stalled because law enforcement officials in Virginia have been unable to locate Paragon Source and its CEO, Janet Lauderdale, to serve the complaint.
Gov. Bob Riley signed the contract on Oct. 23, later calling criticism of it "buffoonery."
Holmes, D-Montgomery, chair of the Contract Review Committee, wants to prohibit the state from spending any money under the contract before a hearing by the court, and eventually to cancel the contract. The suit said the contract violates the state's competitive bid law.
Holmes said although Lauderdale and Paragon Source were declared a "sole source provider" and not subject to competitive bids, the state Finance Department has given conflicting reasons for that designation.
Other defendants in the case are Riley and Acting Finance Director Bill Newton and Lauderdale's husband, Thomas Raburn.
Lauderdale has not returned numerous calls from The Times to her cell phone.
Holmes has belittled the company's work, saying it has been virtually "operating out of the trunk of their car."
But Finance Department officials say they have been pleased with Paragon Source's work
