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County extends THAP contract
By BILL VARIAN, Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- Try as they might, Hillsborough County commissioners are finding it difficult to cut their ties with THAP, the troubled nonprofit social service agency. Commissioners on Wednesday were forced to extend by three months most of their contracts with THAP, which provides housing and treatment assistance to people with HIV. County officials said they had trouble finding anyone else to do the job when they put the contracts out for bid. While a majority of commissioners expressed little confidence in THAP, they said they will retain the agency until they can seek and review a new round of applicants. Officials think qualified bidders may have stayed on the sidelines because they thought THAP was a shoo-in for the work. "We've really been beating the bush," said Jack Kroll, the county's interim director of health and social services. James A. Hammond, founder of THAP, or the Tampa-Hillsborough Action Plan, said the agency's HIV programs have been unfairly tarred by accusations about other work the agency does. He is hoping the county will recognize what it has in hand and treat THAP fairly when it seeks new bids. "We're sorry that the county feels it needs to go out and redo what we've just been through," Hammond said. "Nothing has been found to show that our services to patients with HIV have been anything but superior." The county has channeled about $900,000 annually in Ryan White federal grant money to THAP through eight different contracts involving assistance to poor people with HIV. About 800 people in Hillsborough County receive help through the program, including transportation, transitional housing and case management. When the county sought new bids for the work earlier this year, THAP was the only bidder on five of the contracts. It was rated highest among the outfits that applied for two of the other contracts by a regional citizens group that decides how Ryan White money should be spent in west central Florida. But several of THAP's other programs are now under federal scrutiny, including the affordable housing programs it runs on behalf of the city of Tampa. The investigations were prompted by news accounts about work THAP did to help former city housing director Steve LaBrake and his girlfriend Lynne McCarter build a luxury home in south Tampa. A federal grand jury is investigating LaBrake's dealings. And authorities with the FBI and Inspector General's Office of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs are investigating other THAP programs, including its housing efforts for veterans. -- Times staff writer Jeff Testerman contributed to this report
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From the Times |
