NEW YORK (Diya TV) — Focused Technologies Imaging Services will pay a $3 million fine after being found in violation of the terms of a state government contract and outsourcing work to India.
Owned by Chuck Tobin, the Menands company, illegally outsourced work to the South Asian nation involving digitizing fingerprint information, according to authorities. Focused Technologies issued the following apology in a statement:
“Eight years ago, the company took on a state contract and made a major mistake with its administration. Today, we acknowledge this error in judgment and sincerely apologize,” the statement said. “None of our current customers or contracts have ever been impacted by this incident.”
The outsourcing violated the terms of the contract that required all work to be performed in New York’s capital, Albany, to ensure security. Aside from the subcontracting, the violation also meant the company skirted its requirements to ensure that most of the work be performed by citizens with disabilities.
“This Capital Region company entered into a covert and unauthorized outsourcing that swelled its profits while disregarding its commitment to employing individuals with disabilities, as required by its contract with the state,” inspector general Catherine Leahy Scott said in a statement about the settlement.
This particular case of outsourcing took place in 2008-09. At the time of the violation, Focused Technologies was part of the state’s preferred source program, which awards no-bid contracts to a not-for-profit — the contract was worth $3.45 million. The nonprofit then subcontracts the work to companies that hire people with disabilities to perform more than 50 percent of the labor required for the work.
Due to the outsourcing, it was determined Focus Technologies used disabled labor for only 31 percent of the work, according to the settlement.
Focused Technologies will be allowed to continue contracting for government work as part of the preferred source program, however, because of the violation, the terms of the settlement will require the company employ individuals with disabilities to perform 69 percent of the work instead of 50 percent, for the next two years. Additionally, the company must pay for an independent monitor for five years to monitor compliance.
