Sunday, May 17, 2015

GARCIA JR. INVITES THE BIG BOYS TO THE GBIC FEAST

By Juan Montoya
Those who have seen the work product offered by Jacobs Management project manager Oscar Garcia Jr. to the Port of Brownsville, the Brownsville Public Utility Board, and the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation in return for the $185,000 these three publicly-funded entities paid them to do so-called Small Area Plan, can't get over the feeling that they've seen the stuff before.
And, in fact, they have.
The SAP, to sue planners' parlance, is contained in the  $454,000 Brownsville Strategic Infrastructure and Land Management Plan delivered to the three entities by Robin McCaffrey of Needham, McCaffrey and Associates.
That so-called master plan identified 35 small-area sites and called for the development of commercial corridors and recommended that the development of the plan be split into three phases at a total cost of $750,000.
The firm recommended that United Brownsville be placed in charge of implementing the plan using funds from public entities.
In so many words, Phase I, the $185,000 SAP, merely rehashed the overall study and focused on 10 of the 35 identified sites.
Now, without the benefit of a Request For Proposals, the GBIC is being asked by Garcia Jr., of Jacobs Management, to give them another $407,878 to rehash another 10 from the same study, widely available in the Master Plan.
Let's rewind the tape.
In 2010, Michael Paul, a citizen of the United States and a resident of the State of California and a senior technical analyst in the information services division of n that state's Judicial Council, sued Jacobs Management – among others –  because he said it had "grossly overcharged" for its services.
He charged that the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) through its Facilities Management Unit had assigned the project to Jacobs and its associates and disregarded and in-house plan submitted by Paul and his colleagues in the hire of the state.
The resulting study, submitted by Jacobs as its own work, Paul charged, was "a plagiarized study of the Army Corps of Engineers in building and managements systems, a study widely available on the Internet. (Jacobs) submitted the study as a bid to the AOC, a public agency, in order to engage in business and act as contractor..."
Sound familiar?
Paul then went on to compare the prices for the services offered by "Team Jacobs" and showed that in many instances, the group was charging more than double the going rate other engineers and planners were offering.
In the GBIC SAP studies, we'll never know what other groups or companies would charge because there is nothing to compare since there was no Request For Proposals to Phase II. And since Garcia Jr. and Jacob's was the only RFP considered in the $185,000 Phase I, we won't know whether the public is getting a good deal or is being overcharged as in the California case.
Jacobs is not your mom-and-pop outfit. Jacobs Project Management Co. is a subsidiary of Jacobs Engineering, which is an international engineering, architecture and construction firm. The main company is headquartered in Pasadena, Calif. although the nearest office to Brownsville is in San Antonio.
It is a Fortune 500 publicly traded company with 66,000 employees and 2014 revenues of more than $12 billion.
And its executives earns millions in compensation. John W. Possner, the Executive vice-president  of Finance and Administration of Jacobs Management, for example, was paid $2,169,775 in 2014.
How much is $2,169,775?
How about $248 an hour, $4 a minute, and 0.07 per second 24 hours a day 365 days a year? This si five times the U.S. president's salary and 41 times the median U.S. household income.
In the Jacobs proposal presented by Garcia to the GBIC board, aside from the $37,878 for Phase II, ther is included a total of $35,000 for budgeted expenses. There is, however, a separate attachment (Exhibit B) which lists Additional Professional Services rates it will charge over the total $407,878 Lump Sum compensation.
The project executive, if any change orders are approved, will earn $200 an hour, and technical consultants another $225 per hour. A "Subject Matter Expert" will cost GBIC $200 per hour and a "3D Modeler" a paltry &5 per hour. Even someone called "Program Support" fetches $77 per hour.
Let's think about this. Don't we have local planners and engineers who are capable of doing the same work (if the Phase I and contemplated Phase II proposals can be called work) for much less. We are, after all, the poorest community in the United States.
The Port of Brownsville and the PUB took one look at the $750,000 additional price tag for the implementation plan and pulled stakes. It is only the GBIC now who has been left holding the bag.
They are :

                                              David Betancourt - Chairman                                                       
Emaildavid.betancourt@co.cameron.tx.us

Ed Sikes


Al Villarreal

Jessica Tetreau-Kalifa

John Cowen
Email: jcowen2@cowen-group.com

Do you want Mr. Possner to make and additional load of money through Project Manager Oscar Garcia Jr. to rehash a Master Plan that has already cost us $454,000 plus the $185,000 they have already given Jacobs (Oscar Jr.) for the useless Phase I?
Or will we put a stop to the vultures picking at the carcass until all the meat is gone?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lets see here dudes….this Mccaffrey guy Did a study for the city of Kyle…the same time the director of Omagine Brownsville was the Mayor for the city of Kyle…do you think the director of Imagine Brownsville had something to do in getting him to do the study dudes….ahuevo!….lol!

Now McCaffrey…recommends that Imagine Brownsville be in charge of implementing the study that the tax-payers of Brownsville paid for…and Imagine Brownsville does not answer to the tax-payers….they answer to no one dudes!….i kno….smells…like the blimp after one of his walks on a sunny day with his chancels…lol!

Carlos Marin is the creator of Imagine brownsville…to the tune of one million dollars…paid by who?….the tax-payers of Brownsville dudes ad dudetts….and Marin is the one that hired the director of Imagine Brownsville and brought McCaffrey to town…..wow…lol!

So now it makes sense why he does these private fund-raisers for naked commissioners dudes….so he can continue the taking of the tax-dollars.….and all commissioners are asleep at the wheel….lol!

chief cool arrow said...

Juan is this firm registered in the state of texas? Iyou can check with the texas board of professional engineers in austin texas , call and askmfor dan valdez he is an atty with this board whos job is to investigate illegal activities among its engineer members cca
X


chief cool arrow said...

Texas board of professional engineers phone number is 512 440 7723 so anyone can call and file a complaint cca

Anonymous said...

Rick Longoria appointed Jessica Tetreu to the GBIC board and why do you think that was??? To sway votes for them both to get money from the contracts they award. Oscar Garcia and Carlos Marin are tied to Rick Longoria and Jessica Tetreu. People just voted for two of the worst cons in Brownsville History. Them two are tied in with the Hernandez, Carlos Marin,Escobedo,Fred Rutzenberg,David Bentacourt, and Al Villareal.

It is all a SCAM. The elected officials sell themselves for $4000.00 (pocket change) while these thieves make out with hundreds of Thousands of Dollars if not MILLIONS of our money.

Anonymous said...

The soap opera " AS THE BLIMP AND IMP TURN" is still going strong dudes....never a dull moment...lol!

The round mound of ass pound writes that because Ricardo Longoria's disgruntled ex talks to Roman Perez....all the parents of the kids he ministers should denounce Roman.....well then, if that ideology from the grotesque blubber of gayness is followed....the parents of Bella...the little girl he mentors should have her as far from the blimp as possible dudes....he is infecting her with all his wacked out conspiracies....lol!

The poor little girl is going to grow up and want everyone in jail dudes...just like uncle blimp....lol!

The happy gay hippo and his senior citizen ex-boyfriend Eduardo Paz Martinez have split too dudes...I know....tragic...lol!

The round hairy ball of grasa is going after the old relic like Longoria's ex is going after him....nothing worse than a woman scorned dudes...except a blimp scorned...lol!

"your writing takes people to happy places....my writing is like my ovaries...dry" the gay blogger would write in happier times to his ex blogging partner....now he calls him an Imp!....where has all the love gone dudes...lol!

Perhaps the stars will align again dudes....the birds will sign and cupid will aim his love arrow into the blimps fat culo.....and he and Eduardo Paz Martinez will once again be together in bliss.....but don't hold your breath dudes...lol!

Anonymous said...

'Lil Oscar Garcia looks like his father, a really nice guy, but has his mother's ability to steal from the public....

Anonymous said...

Blimp is attacking you, juan.

Anonymous said...

El Sapo Garcia is a pendejo of the championship variety. He is an overachiever in that department.

Anonymous said...

Protest against Next Decade LNG Export Terminal and Pipeline
Thursday at 5:00pm
ITEC Campus UTB in Brownsville, Texas
http://rgvstoplng.wix.com/rgvstoplng

This is A BIG DEAL. Next Decade LNG plans to build an ENORMOUS plant in the Valley. It will take up 1000 acres along the highway from Brownsville to Port Isabel. They'll build TWO 300-megawatt gas-fired power plants on site to fuel 6 natural gas liquefaction trains, 4 storage tanks which are 14 stories high, a 130-mile double gas pipeline 42-inches in diameter all the way from Kingsville, and 3 separate compressor stations to pressurize the gas. If you don't want to see the Valley turned into Port Arthur or Texas City, please come out to their open house and make your voice heard.

https://www.facebook.com/events/813061628777317/

Anonymous said...

This will only end when people start going to prison for violating the public trust.

Anonymous said...

Go home Sergio!!!!

Anonymous said...

Does he have project management credentials? Is he a PMP?

Anonymous said...

Yes, go home Sergio, relax and watch how all these thieves are going to fall one by one and end up in jail. The crooks and their initials jtk, ce, rl, tm, spg, the hernandez.

rita