State signs 90-day deals with cleaners

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, August 13, 2008 By Cynthia Needham Journal State House Bureau PROVIDENCE — Three weeks after abruptly firing two state cleaning contractors suspected of using illegal immigrant workers, the Carcieri administration has hired temporary replacement crews at nearly 50 buildings across the state. The 90-day “emergency procurement” contracts went to 15 separate vendors, including two minority-owned companies, and CranstonARC, a nonprofit organization that provides vocational training to developmentally disabled Rhode Islanders. Starting today, those crews will clean facilities from the University of Rhode Island and the Division of Motor Vehicle registries to the main state administration buildings on Capitol Hill. They will take the place of TriState Enterprises and Falcon Maintenance, whom the state... [read full story]