Collection Agency Sues City Over Contract Award

by Patrick Lunsford CollectionIndustry.com

A government collection agency in Texas is challenging the decision made by the City of Brownsville, TX to award a collection contract to a rival firm.

Municipal Services Bureau (MSB), headquartered in Austin, filed a lawsuit last week against the town for ?failure to follow good governance process and due diligence procedures in the award of a municipal contract.? MSB stated in a press release last week that they are not seeking monetary damages or court costs; they just want the contract.

According to the company, MSB had been collecting on behalf of the City of Brownsville since 1992. They claim that the firm?s results had consistently met or exceed the expectations of the city. ?For the past fourteen years, more than 250,000 cases have been handled professionally by MSB, with diplomacy extended towards all citizens and without complaint from the City,? said Tom Giamboi, MSB chief executive officer and president. When the city issued a request for proposal (RFP) last year to provide collection services to the Brownsville Municipal Court, MSB — and other collection agencies — responded. MSB claims that their proposal had the lowest cost of any competitor and that they scored the highest on evaluations made by the city?s Evaluation Committee. Ultimately, the contract was awarded to Linebarger, Goggan, Blair and Sampson, also based in Austin.

MSB is asking the city to overturn the awarding of the contract to Linebarger and immediately award the contract to MSB.