After Alleged Fraud, Next Bidder Will Get Police Uniform Contract

Now that the person to whom the city first awarded the police uniform bid has been charged with felony fraud by the Westchester County District Attorney, the Rye City Council is expected to award the bid to the next lowest bidder, New England Uniforms, LLC, at next week’s council meeting, City Corporation Counsel Kristen Wilson said Wednesday.

Connecticut-based New England Uniforms (NEU) was the only other bidder on this contract and lost to New England Sportswear (NES), which is owned by Rye auxiliary police officer James Holmes, the man who is now accused of submitting a fraudulent warranty in his bid.

After NEU lost the bid on March 20, they sent a freedom of information request to the city for Holmes’ bid and then apparently alerted the Blauer clothing manufacturer that Holmes had forged a warranty from them, Wilson said.

On March 25, Blauer sent the city manager, attorney and Police Commissioner William Connors a letter informing them that NES was not an authorized dealer of Blauer products, they had not done business with NES since 2008 and did not authorize any warranty, according to Wilson.

“Standard protocol in the past is if they need to bid they are considered a valid bid,” Wilson said. “Obviously if you are dealing with a criminal it’s hard to catch everything. It appeared on the face of documents he met all the specifications in our bid,” Wilson said. She explained that city staff recommended NES over NEU because NES sent a lower bid. 

In light of the fraud charges Holmes is facing, the city will double-check all NEU’s warranties with the manufacturers, Wilson said.

When asked why she did not know that Holmes was the owner of NES, Wilson said that Connors had told her he had “some financial interest in the store.”

But, Wilson said, it would not matter if he was the owner of the store or not because his role as an auxiliary police officer did not provide him any financial benefit.

“I don’t believe he had any benefit being an auxiliary police officer and submitting this bid,” Wilson said. “I don’t believe there was a clear conflict of interest under our code. But, putting that aside, whether or not there was perceived or implied conflict has nothing to do with fact that he forged documents.”

An auxiliary police officer is an unpaid volunteer who attends peace officer training and assists in crowd control, traffic control, and large scale emergencies, according to Connors. They typically assist with large events like parades, the Fourth of July, football games, etc. 

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