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Aramark, the private vendor that provides prison food in Michigan, continues to come under fire.

(File Photo | MLive.com)

Editor's note: This is a monthly series on government transparency.

Why did Aramark Correctional Services, now under fire for alleged infractions in its food

service contract with the state prison system, win a bid over its competitors?

It came down to a single point on the state’s contract-award rating system, records show, allowing Aramark to get the contract over the other finalist, Florida-based Trinity Services Group.

That single point eventually grew to four points after further consideration by a four-person panel charged with awarding the deal.

Even in its application for the contract, Aramark had problems.

Among the criticisms of Aramark’s bid to get the $145 million correctional food service contract with the state, was its lack of transparency regarding its correctional food service record.

“Aramark did not provide detailed descriptions of their prior experiences,” according to the memorandum that assessed the formal responses of the applicants.

Aramark also failed to outline for the state a service delivery plan, didn’t provide the requested sales volume for the last five years and submitted resumes of key personnel that lacked detail.

Criticisms of Trinity included its absence of a plan to provide medical or nutritional counseling to inmates and detailed only one prior experience in the industry.

Aramark had initially failed to comply with the state’s requirements for security, including a refusal to conduct the routine pat down of inmates without corrections department staff present.

Aramark’s score was eventually enhanced by three points in that area, giving it a four-point edge over Trinity.

See the conflicting scores here and here.

Curiously, the state almost shelved the idea of privatizing food service for the state’s prisons when it determined that its savings would not be enough to justify it.

At the last minute, though, several Republican lawmakers insisted that the deal be made.

While it screams of money being exchanged, a search of campaign contributions finds nothing remarkable coming from the Aramark PAC going into the campaign coffers of its statehouse advocates.

Michigan lawmakers are shielded from open records laws, so the natural open records request for email exchanges between Aramark and state legislators is off the table.

But details of the recent trouble of Aramark, one of the publicly traded company's 12 divisions, are outlined in a recent news story. The story relied in part on state records obtained under the state's Freedom of Information Act.

According to the records, the story claimed, "one Aramark food service director showed up drunk and failed a Breathalyzer. Another worker was caught trying to smuggle marijuana.

Others have failed drug tests, kissed prisoners, threatened to assault inmates, or announced intentions to "go postal" inside a facility…"

In one email, Kevin Weissenborn, the Michigan Department of Corrections manager in charge of policing the Aramark contract, told a colleague in March that Aramark “claims we are not being a good partner, which only leaves me to wonder about their definition of a partnership.”

It would have been nice to see just what Aramark officials involved with the contract were saying to each other, but its $145 million contract with the state protects Aramark from FOIA requests, directly stating that "[Aramark] is not required to respond to any state or federal FOIA requests by third parties" - meaning the public that is spending the $145 million.

Aramark serves a number of government entities in various capacities, with its biggest business being a food service provider. It is already in place in numerous county jails and state colleges in Michigan, including Central Michigan, Grand Valley State University and the University of Michigan.

By many accounts, Aramark does a solid job in the education institution setting.

When you get to the correctional facilities, things go south quickly. Much of the same thing that is alleged in Michigan prisons is allegedly going on in Ohio, which signed a deal with

Aramark in September. A reporter from the Associated Press used public records requests to uncover the alleged maggots and sex with inmates.

One state lawmaker, Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, called for a rebidding of the contract during a taping of WKAR's "Off the Record" TV show this month.

Richardville said that he had been part of companies that did supplier development "kinds of things" that required some insight into vendors.

"We went inside and looked at those companies in a real direct kind of way and made sure that they were doing the right thing; quality standards etc. etc.," Richardville said.

"Somebody should be doing that. "

That’s pretty easy talk for Richardville, who didn’t respond to an email seeking further comment.

The company's correctional food service record is well chronicled and includes numerous problems.

“Somebody should be doing that.” Indeed.

Steve Miller is an award-winning national investigative reporter and editor/author of six books. His work uncovering corruption in a quasi-government insurance agency in Texas won a digital investigative award in the 2011 Best in Business journalism award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. His next book, "Detroit Rock City: The Uncensored History of Rock 'n Roll in America's Loudest City," is for sale at your local bookstore. You can email him at penvengeance@gmail.com.