The Czar has previously discussed how it appears that the Commandante, Lina Hidalgo, fixed the bidding process to award an $11 million COVID outreach contract to a longtime Democrat operative.
That operative is Felicity Pereyra who previously worked on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign along with current County Commissioner Adrian Garcia’s mayoral bid.
She was a one-woman operation and was awarded an $11 million contract, beating out UT Health Science Center (UTHSC) even though the bidding process revealed that UTHSC had a high score.
This morning Texas Rangers executive search warrants at the offices of at least two members of Lina Hidalgo's staff.
“...the investigation is related to an $11 million vaccine outreach contract that was canceled by Hidalgo late last year. They were searching for county-issued computers and devices related to the issue.”
"When questioned about the contract in a commissioner's meeting last year, Hidalgo said "bring it on because there's nothing here."
Since then, some of money paid to Elevate and the equipment purchased with it was returned by the contractor to Harris County.
The county asked for $207,524 of the $1,425,237 it paid Elevate Strategies back. The company refunded the county $177,1813.54 on Sept. 29, 2021, and the remaining $30,342.70 on Oct. 26, 2021.
Invoices and refund checks obtained by 13 Investigates shows the company refunded the county for the cost of "50 one-year unlimited data plans for 50 tablets" and "digital ad reservations."
In November 2021, the Harris County district attorney demanded documents from multiple county offices examining how the county selected a vendor for an $11 million vaccine outreach contract.
13 Investigates sources confirmed then that commissioners' offices received subpoenas requesting documents from January 2021 until November 2021. The broad request asked not only about the winning firm, but other bidders as well.
Elevate Strategies is a small Houston firm and the contract was designed to reach unvaccinated people in Harris County to convince them to get vaccinated.
Pereyra assisted in the 2015 Houston mayoral campaign for Adrian Garcia, who is now a Harris County Commissioner for Precinct 2, according to initial reports from the Houston Chronicle. Garcia previously told the Chronicle he was not involved in in awarding the contract and didn't know about Pereyra's connection beforehand.
When asked about the subpoenas in January, a lawyer for Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo told 13 Investigates, "we have always followed the law and we continue to follow the law."
Last summer, Hidalgo told commissioners to "bring it on" during a Harris County Commissioner's Court meeting discussing Elevate Strategies.
During the Aug. 24, 2021, meeting, Commissioner Jack Cagle asked for more information on who follows up with vendors who receive millions of dollars in contracts to make sure work is being performed to standards.
The county's budget officer said the $11 million contract to Elevate wouldn't be paid all at once, but instead based on the work performed, adding that progress would be monitored.
The meeting got heated when Cagle said "in the Elevate contract, obviously the one-person shop can't handle all of the work that is to be required."
Hidalgo interrupted Cagle, saying he was mischaracterizing the company with a "bold-faced lie."
"You well know it's not a one-person shop," Hidalgo said.
"This firm was selected by a committee that I had no idea who the firms were that applied. I didn't know who was selected until the (vendor) was selected. Once the vendor was selected, I learned it was the same vendor that did some of our Census outreach, which was very robust. That could not have been done by a one-person firm," Hidalgo said. "... I do not know this person other than they did the Census work, and from what I know, they did a good job at it."
After several minutes of Cagle and Hidalgo going back and forth about the company, Hidalgo said the contract is no different than any other vendor the county works with. Commissioners said they looked forward to learing more details about the Elevate contract in future meetings.
"Bring it on. Bring it on because there's is nothing here," Hidalgo said. "Other than the appropriate COVID response and someone who has gone to lengths to even avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest."”