DESI, Inc. to take over Job Corps

By John Howell
DESI, Inc. — Dynamic Education System, Inc. — will begin transition take over operation of the Finch-Henry Job Corps Center (FHJCC) on August 1, a center spokesman announced today. DESI will take over operations September 1.
FHJCC Business/Community Liaison Roger Givens that the Department of Labor had dismissed a protest filed by Minact, Inc. that, had it been upheld, would have allowed it to continue operating the Job Corps center in Batesville it has operated since its opening in 1981.
Minact, Inc. had filed the protest in April after it was notified in April that DESI, Inc. had been awarded the Dept. of Labor (DOL) contract to operate the Batesville center and would take over operation in a month. The DOL initially postponed the transfer while it considered the protest, but when it dismissed it this week, Minact officials chose not to pursue it further, according to Givens.
“Now we just want to respect that; they’ve (DESI, Inc.) got it for one year with two possible extensions,” Givens said. Normally, Job Corps centers are operated under five-year contracts. The DOL contract with Minact, Inc. ended last year, and they were given a one-year bridge contract, according to Givens.
“Most staff has applied; most are rehired,” Givens said, by the new contractor. Most changes are made in upper management.
Givens said that he had not applied and planned to “go back to Grenada,” where he lives. Givens came to FHJCC in 2005 after retiring from what was then called the Mississippi Employment Sucurity Commission. He said that he only planned to stay at FHJCC “a few years.” During his liaison tenure, he became the public face of the center.
“Students should notice very little change, and for the most part it would be the same for staff members who are rehired,” he said.
Givens shared the news via text messages and E-mails with Community Relations Council and Industrial Council members Tuesday.
Although Minact has lost the contract to operate the center in Batesville, it was the successful bidder on a new contract to operate the Job Corps center in Dennison, Iowa, according to Givens.

(An earlier posting of this story stated that DESI would take over August 1. It has been corrected above.)