Columbus CEO Speaks Out Against Texas Company In Charge Of Ohio Appliance Rebate Program

The Texas company that outsourced stimulus-funded call center jobs to Central America also hired workers in the Dominican Republic.

Ohio Department of Development spokesperson Katie Sabatino confirmed that Lewisville, Texas-based Parago used call centers in El Salvador and the Dominican Republic on Friday, the same day that ODOD released documents detailing how Parago won the state contract to run Ohio's Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program.

Parago beat out two Ohio companies to win the contract to distribute more than $10 million in appliance rebates. NBC 4 obtained a copy of the contract Friday, which shows the state will pay Parago $357,300. That figure is lower than what NBC 4 reported Tuesday, when ODOD Energy Resources Division Director Nadeane Howard said the contract would pay Parago "roughly $500,000."

Parago's initial bid on the contract was much lower, $171,300. It is not clear why the payment would morph into $357,300 by the time the state of Ohio and Parago agreed to a contract. Parago failed to answer or return our four calls to the company. Sabatino said ODOD Director Lisa Patt-McDaniel would not be available for an interview until Monday.

"The winning bid was less than half of what we bid. You would think that that would raise some questions," said James Kennedy, CEO of Twenty First Century Communication, of Columbus. Kennedy's company bid $467,238. "You would think that Ohio (businesses) would have gotten some sort of preference,"

A second Ohio bidder, Focus on Ohio's Future, of Columbus, bid $493,763. At $171,300, Parago was the second-lowest bid, but the company rated the highest and landed the rebate program contract.

Kennedy called Parago dishonest for failing to disclose its offshore intentions, adding Twenty First Century Communication would not outsource call center jobs to another country, but the company would have needed to hire some Illinois residents to fulfill the contract's service terms for providing live agents.

In its 55-page proposal to the state, Parago noted that its call centers would not operate as normally scheduled on "major national holidays." The company never identified which nation its call center policy referred to, and ODOD never asked or required that the call center jobs remain in America.

"They got suckered," Kennedy said of ODOD.

In that proposal, Parago touted, "We offer (ODOD) a no surprises approach for your budget and believe in complete transparency in how we charge for our services."

On March 26, Patt-McDaniel wrote to Keith Bruns, a senior account executive at Parago, indicating she was surprised to learn about the offshore call center.

"We would have preferred to have been made aware of your plans to outsource the call center during the review process of your proposal," McDaniel noted. "we are formally making a request that you pull your call center from outside the United States and facilitate calls... at a call center located within the United States."

Bruns responded on April 1, defending the company's outsourcing based on the estimated $50,000 to $125,000 in cost savings by not hiring American workers. According to Bruns, that left more money available for appliance rebates.

"Our position is that... near shoring the call centers result in more money getting into the hands of Ohio residents and more stimulus that benefits Ohio businesses," Bruns wrote, never directly addressing Patt-McDaniel's request that the call center duties be transferred to the United States.

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