HUDSON COUNTY — Hudson County will not appeal a decision by Superior Court Justice Maurice Gallipoli that not only voided a contract awarded to Correctional Health Services for services to the county jail and youth detention center, but awarded it to the next highest bidder.
The contract covers a range of services to the Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny as well as the Hudson County Youth Detention Center in Secaucus.
Last year, CHS was awarded the contract despite alleged conflicts of interest among some of those on the county staff who wrote the bid specifications and later judged the merits on CHS’ bid.
Last August, Hudson County managed to reduce the contract cost from the original $29.7 million to about $22 million, this was still above the big proposed by Marlton-based CFG Health Systems.
Faced with a lawsuit by CFG last August, Hudson County Board of Freeholders voided the five-year contract with CHS, but the freeholders kept the firm on as its vendor while seeking a solution for the $29.7 million contract.
Last week, Gallipoli voided the temporary contract as well as the original contract and ordered that the county award the bid go CFG.
Hudson County Council Donato Battista said the county did not intend to appeal the decision, but would look for clarification as to when exactly CFG would take over operations.
Freeholder Attorney Ed Florio, however, said CHS could still file an appeal of the decision.