<p>Jeff Anderson is chairman of the board for the state Department of Community Health. Anderson is also a vice president for a consulting firm called Capgemini, which recently won a lucrative state contract to provide services to none other than the DCH.</p><p>The contract came after the company was allowed to do some free, no-contract work for the agency earlier this spring. Now questions abound about Anderson's role in helping his company win the contract when it wasn't the lowest bidder.</p><p>Capgemini is a consulting firm that has been tapped as a subcontractor to help the state agency sort through accounting statements from fiscal year 2004. If Capgemini does a good job and is hired to handle the next fiscal year, too, it could earn up to $1.05 million.</p><p>A spokesman for Gov. Sonny Perdue said Capgemini was far better suited than its only competitor to get the contract and that Anderson didn't pull any strings to steer business to Capgemini.</p><p>"Contracting with Capgemini was the right thing to do. The state is employing the best people for the job," said Heather Hedrick, who added that Anderson will not personally profit from the deal.</p><p>But the contract, reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, still raises ethical questions. Capgemini was earlier allowed to do work for free for the agency with no competitive bidding _ a practice state officials defended because Capgemini wasn't being paid.</p><p>But later, when Capgemini, working with Hewlett-Packard, applied for the paying contract, state evaluators gave the consultant high marks for being familiar with the agency. Four evaluators gave Capgemini 100 out of 100 possible points for "level of familiarity." One evaluator wrote, "Capgemini already has worked with DCH before and is somewhat familiar with agency and staff."</p><p>The only other bidder for the accounting work _ Blackwell Consulting Services _ got far lower marks on that category, with one evaluator giving it zero of 100 points and writing, "no feeling that they really understand what we want them to manage." Blackwell was the lowest bidder, but Hewlett-Packard and Capgemini got the job.</p><p>So it appeared that Capgemini benefited from its earlier, unpaid relationship with DCH. The question is, what role did Anderson play in putting the two parties together?</p><p>"It looks to me like it's an issue of whether there's a conflict of interest or whether there's inside undue influence," said Teddy Lee, of the State Ethics Commission, which is not empowered to investigate conflict-of-interest claims.</p><p>"Every position of public trust owes to the public the duty of absolute loyalty, undiluted by any considerations aimed at personal gain," Lee said.</p><p>Anderson did not immediately return phone calls Tuesday.</p><p>Russ Willard, a spokesman for the state attorney general, said Tuesday an inquiry about the Capgemini contract has been launched. He said it hadn't been determined yet whether a full investigation is merited.</p><p>Hedrick, the governor's spokeswoman, said Capgemini was the best suited because the state needs the auditing work done as soon as possible. She said Anderson has not behaved unethically.</p><p>"He does not stand to gain a single cent from this contract," she said.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x1cdd538)</p><p>HASH(0x1cdd5e0)</p>
