Investigation finds UT Athletics staff took trips, entertainment from vendors

#51
#51
k-town_king said:
Right. I have family members involved with things like this and I have experience with a prior job.


How are people not getting this?

The reason we pay $300 for a hammer from government contractors is sweet heart deals from kickbacks.
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First two sentences are spot on. The last, not so much. Ask yourself, if you let a contract with as many regulations on it as the government does and you only bought one item as a prototype, how much would that item cost? Then, if it goes to production, how much would the 250th item cost. You only ever hear about the first one sold, not the other 10,000 that they buy at $15.50 each.
 
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#52
#52
Volz4lif3 said:
Memphis news just reported violations within the sports Dept, something to due with vendors.. not completely sure what is detailed, glanced at it for just a min..
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While others were paying losing football coaches $400,000 per game! Probably these clowns will get axed though!:eek:lol:
 
#53
#53
Iam4utalways said:
What about the trips he took paid by the companies that didn't get the contract?

How else could he know how good the equipment works without seeing it and experiencing it 1st hand?

OJT is going to cost this man his job.

Should have used better judgement.

Will this void the contracts that are in place?
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I've worked in both government agencies and private industry. In private industry, this is most definitely common. In any government-related business, taxpayer money is involved. Any appearance of favoritism or kickbacks is going to cause a huge issue because it looks like someone is trying to buy a contract through incentives to the person approving the contract.

As to the question you asked about how he would know how well equipment worked without seeing it firsthand, the selected bidders would have been invited to campus to demonstrate their equipment. For a contract worth $736k, they would have been happy to ship some equipment to Knoxville to do a demonstration.

You're absolutely correct, though. He should have used better judgement, and it could cost him his job. At the very least, as others have stated, he'll have to pay back the expenses and will lose vacation time if he didn't use it when he went on these trips.

If one of the other bidders wants to contest the bid and say that the vendor who was awarded the contract illegally provided gifts and benefits, and they threaten to sue the university, it could cause them to void the contract and re-open the bid process. It really depends on how the university's attorneys view the prospects of UT losing in court.
 
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#54
#54
Halph66 said:
"Investigators also found that "restrictive mandatory requirements" were place on a request for bids for sports equipment, and the sole qualifying vendor was awarded the contract on June 2, 1016. "

What's the statue of limitation on this kind of violation? They were really digging to find this one.
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KnoxNews hates us.
 
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#55
#55
fossilfiction said:
A vendor offered expense paid trips and entertainment and this is a violation? Trash! This happens in every business where money of this level is involved.
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It is the rule when you work for a Federal, State, County or City institution. This goes from the POTUS to the STENO in any Government job.
 
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#56
#56
OneVolNation said:
Those looking to read about Football here in the Tennessee Vols Football forum have a right to be frustrated when irrelevant threads like these are posted here instead of Tennessee Vols Football discussion.
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Agree. It ruins my whole experience. Somebody needs to start a thread about how Pruitt is gonna do this year and what we should expect.
 
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#57
#57
k-town_king said:
Right. I have family members involved with things like this and I have experience with a prior job.


How are people not getting this?

The reason we pay $300 for a hammer from government contractors is sweet heart deals from kickbacks.
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The $300 hammers is a result of how the military executes its contracts. Kickbacks are most often occur in the private sector where their accounts can/do "cook the books". The rule does not apply if everyone is afforded the same opportunity to share the reward.
 
#58
#58
Somebody must have pissed someone off pretty good to prompt this sort of "news" being dug up.
 
#62
#62
Volz4lif3 said:
Sorry bout that Kang.. is there an athletic Dept selection here? Get on that Freak..
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It's all love. Nothing personal. It's just Memphis has plenty of its own non-news to report about Mike Norvell's alleged gambling predilection or why he didn't deny Ole Miss allegations that the reason no SEC teams would touch him was because they found something in common with the reason for Hugh Freeze's dismissal when vetting his background. It's not that I put any stock into those findings, it's just we don't even read about them over here if everyone is minding their own.
 
#63
#63
Multiple schools getting $ from shoe companies to buy big time players and UT gets hammered over a round or two of golf? What’s next, stakeout at a picnic.....on wait.

Nothing to this story. Move on
 
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#66
#66
fossilfiction said:
A vendor offered expense paid trips and entertainment and this is a violation? Trash! This happens in every business where money of this level is involved.
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i agree but in my profession at least, we go thru yearly training and compliance on what gifts can and cant be accepted from doctors, vendors etc....

i doubt this is very different, and im sure they have compliance folks telling them that this is a "no no"... he knew better just wasnt being paid enough to care obviously
 
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#69
#69
Volz4lif3 said:
Memphis news just reported violations within the sports Dept, something to due with vendors.. not completely sure what is detailed, glanced at it for just a min..
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Butch Jones leaked it a press Corp.:thud::)You wanna bet?? I made a thread once, is this the last of the bad news or leaks that we are going to hear? No. Now this one pops up. When will it stop?:banghead2::mf_surrender:
 
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#72
#72
This is about a non story as it can get. Must have been a really slow newsday. My experience in the private sector says that this would have never been a big deal.
 
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#74
#74
fossilfiction said:
A vendor offered expense paid trips and entertainment and this is a violation? Trash! This happens in every business where money of this level is involved.
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Since it is a state institution it is a very serious offense. I know this cause the place I work is a government type business and got grants from the state to build out our network.

Our previous president, CEO, CFO and others were sent to prison for doing this exact same kind of thing.

If the state is auditing them, they're looking for other discrepancies and this could turn into a serious issue for anyone that was involved in it. Whether they still work here or not.
 
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