Privatizing jails in Florida were there secret deals made?

TALLAHASSEE --
Florida's prison system is embroiled in a lawsuit filed by an ousted vendor on a major contract that accuses the state of illegally favoring a competitor.
MHM says the prison system began ''secret'' and ''closed-door'' talks with CMS more than two weeks before MHM and another vendor learned that their proposals were rejected. The department said the state has agreed to pay CMS $70 per inmate per month, in the first year of the contract, but with a $2.50 increase in each of four successive years. CMS would have a 30-day grace period to fix contract violations before the state could impose fines, which MHM called highly irregular. MHM is represented by Christopher Kise, who served as a legal advisor to Gov. Charlie Crist and was solicitor general when Crist was attorney general. The firm also has enlisted Brian Ballard, a prominent lobbyist with close ties to Crist
"The department's secret negotiations, violation of its own internal procedures, flaunting of the state's procurement process and inexplicable insistence on wasting $5-million in public funds does nothing but diminish public confidence in the department's expenditure of state funds,'' Kise argues in court papers.


Link: http://www.miamiherald.com/569/story/1084159.html