Fired Harris County Public Health director faces more charges for alleged $40M bidding scheme
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- The former top leader of Harris County Public Health is facing new charges related to an alleged $40 million bidding scheme that steered taxpayer money to two different companies, District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Monday.
Barbie Robinson was charged with two first-degree felonies of fraudulent securing of document execution of $300,000 or more. If convicted of either, she could face up to 99 years or life in prison.
Robinson was also charged with tampering with a governmental record, a state jail felony that carries up to two years in prison.
That's in addition to a third-degree felony of misuse of official information filed in November.
Harris County hired Robinson in 2021 from Sonoma County, California, where she helped create a social program to help integrate county services, including mental health, medical, and housing. The program used specially-designed software to assist officials with helping residents.
That same program was meant to be brought to Harris County, meaning any software vendor could bid on the project under Texas law.
But the district attorney's office alleges that Robinson worked with IBM before the bidding process began, giving non-public information to its employees in 2021.
"By giving that information to IBM early, it gave them the winning advantage over all other competitors," Ogg previously told ABC13. "When taxpayers are treated like suckers by somebody who sneaks around a well-established procurement process, it can be criminal."
According to court documents, Robinson was part of a five-member team that awarded the contract to IBM, despite other vendors submitting bids for the same proposal for substantially less money, including one for $2 million instead of more than $30 million.
Once she was hired in Harris County, Robinson used COVID-19 recovery funds from the American Rescue Plan to pay IBM, the district attorney alleges.
Robinson is also accused of helping to award an $8 million contract to a one-person California firm known as DEMA (Disaster Emergency Medical Assistance) Consulting & Management to assist with the county's program known as Holistic Assistance Response Teams (HART).
In that case, DEMA's owner allegedly offered Robinson a job to do legal work in California and offered her husband a consulting job.
Robinson was terminated from Harris County Public Health in August after questions were raised in a Houston Chronicle report.
ABC13 has reached out to Robinson's attorney for comment, but so far, did not hear back.
READ MORE: Questions surround $6 million contract between California company and Harris County
READ MORE: Harris County Public Health director relieved of duty after investigation into $6 million contract
