Teacher and educators were furious when they found that the Department of Education was working with Future Technology Associates, despite the fact that the firm was under investigation for fraudulent business practices. They wanted to know why Dept. of Education executives were able to sign a $43 million contract with the IT firm, while thousands of educators were being fired. The Department of Education never gave teachers an exact answer, but they did cancel their contract with Future Technology Associates.
The Department of Education has opted to hire around 20 Future Technology Associates employees directly. This means that the agencies will be able to save millions of dollars a year and still get the same caliber of work completed. Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott announced the decision at a press conference of the agency’s plans. The owners of Future Technology Associates, Jonathan Krohe and Tamer Sevintuna, have been left with little more than a skeleton of a workforce, a lost multi-million dollar contract and mounting legal woes.
The fact is, Future Technology Associates was never really qualified to land the lucrative Department of Education contract. Most of the work completed by the IT firm was subcontracted out to IT professionals in Turkey and India. Though the work itself was completed favorably, Future Technology Associates never told the Department of Education officials that non-US citizens were being contracted. In addition, it was found that Krohe was having a romantic relationship with then executive director of financial operations Judith Hederman when they were awarded the contract.
