Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg on corruption case criticism: 'We're not in high school'

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- An investigation into bid rigging at Harris County is not over.

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced on Tuesday afternoon that there is more work to do after charging the former head of Harris Health with "misuse of official information," a third-degree felony.

"When taxpayers are treated like suckers by somebody who sneaks around a well-established procurement process, it can be criminal," Ogg said during a press conference.

Ogg's team alleged that is what happened with a multi-million dollar contract at Harris County Health for an outreach program called ACCESS. Charging documents allege that Barbie Robinson, the former executive director fired last summer after an unrelated investigation, used her personal email in 2021 to give a heads-up to IBM about an upcoming contract which the county commission later approved later that same year.

"By giving that information to IBM early, it gave them the winning advantage over all other competitors," Ogg said.

Ogg said the next highest bidder was tens of millions of dollars lower than the winning bid.

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According to a court filing, investigators with the Department of Public Safety found that, "While it appears that Robinson is using her private email to conduct official county business outside the reach of public transparency requirements, Affiant believes that this email shows that IBM is helping craft part of the ACCESS program for which it is then making a competitive bid for later in the same month. This email, in context with other emails, indicates that Robinson has shared the scope and details of the proposed contract outside of the competitive bidding window."

As of late Tuesday, neither Robinson nor IBM responded to requests for comment, and Robinson's attorney declined to comment. But County Judge Lina Hidalgo, who has often sparred with Ogg, and whose former staffers were indicted for similar alleged crimes, posted on social media criticism of the charge against Robinson and that Ogg weaponizes her office against those who disagree with her.

"We're not in high school, and our cases aren't based on opinion. They are based on evidence," Ogg said.

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