NEW: State Won’t Extend Contract with PriMedia

NEW: State Won’t Extend Contract with PriMedia

The state has announced that for now it will not be extending its contract for media buying services with PriMedia after it expires at the end of this year, in a letter from Department of Administration Director Richard Licht that was made public yesterday.

“It is our intention to analyze the State’s needs for engaging media buying services; and, should we determine to issue a request for proposal for such services, we will advise you,” Licht wrote in the July 12 letter to PriMedia President James Cooney.

The announcement came weeks after the House passed a controversial budget article that would have effectively made PriMedia the only company the state would buy media services from. The measure was quickly repealed after the PriMedia deal was made public.

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But soon afterwards, a complaint over the matter was filed with State Police. Supt. Steven O’Donnell yesterday confirmed State Police are investigating the matter to determine whether any crimes had been committed. He declined to comment further.

'A lot of people want to malign my client'

A spokesman for PriMedia yesterday said the company is being unfairly targeted by its competitors. “I think there’s a lot of noise … in the industry,” said spokesman Bill Fischer. “I think a lot of people want to malign my client because they want to go back to the old inefficient ways.”

Since PriMedia was awarded a three-year state contract in 2008, Fischer said it had exceeded a mandated annual savings of 30 percent and so car has helped the state to cut at least $3 million in expenses. “It’s a program that’s worked,” Fischer said. “At the same time, it’s angered a lot of people in the industry because they’ve lost money.”

Fischer said he welcomed any review of the state’s media buying services, adding that he hopes the state pays close attention to how quasi-public agencies buy such services. Currently, the quasi-public agencies are not covered in the PriMedia contract.

He also said that PriMedia will fully cooperate with any State Police investigation because the company has nothing to hide.

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