McKee’s Pick for Housing Secretary Was Paid $173,000 as a No Bid Consultant by Agency

McKee’s Pick for Housing Secretary Was Paid $173,000 as a No Bid Consultant by Agency

The Rhode Island Department of Housing has confirmed that Governor Dan McKee’s selection to serve as the Secretary of Housing, Deborah Goddard, has been a paid consultant to the Department for three years.

The McKee administration did not previously disclose the consulting agreement, and the payments were made through a maze of other contractors to the agency that she is now poised to head.

Earlier today, a GoLocal investigation outlined Goddard's history as a top administrator in the City of New York. 

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None of the business relationships are publicly visible, and they cannot be seen through the state’s Transparency Portal, which lists payments to vendors and contractors.

 

Investigation Unveils Payments

In less than two and a half years, Goddard received payments for consulting work for the Department of Housing totaling $173,201.86, but the payments traveled through a series of companies.

And none of the payments were made directly to her. There is no contract between Goddard and the Department of Housing, despite the payments.

After repeated requests for information about the business relationship between Goddard and the State, Emily Marshall, Chief of Information and Public Relations for Housing, wrote in an email to GoLocal, “DJ Goddard Consulting is operated as a sole proprietorship and is not required to be registered in the State of Massachusetts.”

“Deborah was engaged as a contractor with the department through IRG. IRG was contracted through Guidesoft/Knowledge Services, an entity that the state has a Master Price Agreement (MPA) with. Through that MPA, the state paid Guidesoft/Knowledge Services $173,201.86 for Deborah’s services,” wrote Marshall.

IRG is a Missouri-based technology firm, and Guidesoft/Knowledge Services is an Indiana-based technology firm. 

It is unclear why a Massachusett-based one-person housing consultancy would be billing and subcontracting to a series of tech firms.

 

 

Goddard did not have to respond to requests for proposals, nor was she required to bid for state work. Instead, she was a subcontractor to a subcontractor, and all of it was outside of the public view.

According to the timeline of the payments, the business relationship goes back three Housing heads to McKee’s first Housing czar Josh Saal and then continued through to Stefan Pryor and acting Housing Secretary Daniel Connors.

According to State records, Guidesoft has been paid more than $13 million in the first few months of fiscal 2025, more than $47 million in 2024, and $44 million in 2023 for a range of activities for a range and state agencies.

In total, Guidesoft has been paid $106,032,150.99 in less than two and a half years.

Goddard has refused to answer questions from GoLocal.

 

This story was first published 11/22/24 3:14 PM