A company that has provided the state with online game services and scratch ticket printing is wondering why the same consultant involved in writing a faulty request for proposal is back on the job.

A six-year contract awarded last year to low bidder Intralot of Athens, Greece, was invalidated after Scientific Games International Inc. of Alpharetta, Ga., appealed the state’s initial award to Intralot, saying it was based on a flawed scoring mechanism. Now, Scientific Games holds the contract and has about 22 employees in offices in Gardiner.

The ruling invalidating the contract was upheld last month by a judge in Kennebec County Superior Court in Augusta.

A request for proposal is a document that an organization posts to solicit bids from potential vendors.

Patrick Traub, regional vice president of government relations for Scientific Games, said Maine State Lottery has rehired Michael Huffenberger, a former associate of Battelle Memorial Institute Inc. of Columbus, Ohio.

“They’ve rehired the same consultant that wrote the first (request for proposal) and set up the judging process — everything that the appeals panel ruled against and the judge ruled against,” Traub said. “They had warnings from the head of purchasing, who warned the lottery that if you do this, it will be appealed and you’re going to lose.”

Betty Lamoreau, former director of the Division of Purchases, sent emails to Michael Boardman, lottery marketing manager, Dec. 9 and 15, 2009, saying there were problems with the initial request for proposals. Her emails were introduced at the appeal hearing.

Lamoreau said the request departs from customary state procurement procedures and, in some cases, state law. She also said the Attorney General’s Office was confident that the proposed evaluation and scoring process will result in appeals and the possible overturning of whatever award the lottery makes.

“They’re going back to the same guy that wrote the first RFP and that one got thrown out,” Traub said. “You would hope they learned their lesson.”

Timothy Poulin, acting head of the state Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations, did not return phone messages seeking comment.

Michael Wenzel, director of the Maine Division of Purchases in the Department of Administrative Financial Services, said the request for proposals for gaming services is being redesigned.

Wenzel said an evaluation committee, not the consultant, is actually rewriting the request for proposal.

“The evaluation committee is rewriting the old RFP and correcting the discrepancies,” Wenzel said. “We wouldn’t want to make the same mistakes. The discrepancies were outlined in the appeal, and there were a bunch of them. We’re going to address every one of those discrepancies. We’re working on it right now.”

The appeal decision said awarding the contract for lottery gaming systems and services to Intralot was in violation of law and contained irregularities that created fundamental unfairness.

Wenzel said he wasn’t sure how long the restructuring process would take. Scientific Games will provide online game service and scratch ticket printing until June 30.

Kennebec Journal Staff Writer Mechele Cooper can be contacted at 621-5663 or at:

mcooper@centralmaine.com