The company that's losing a BMV contract after ethics questions were raised about a former BMV administrator is firing back at the Pence administration.
Express MVA says in a statement the decision to let its contract lapse in October is "unjustified and wrong" and will put 40 people out of work. Express MVA is the largest of five private contractors which operate "partial service branches" to process titles and registrations for auto dealerships.
Governor Pence announced last week the contract wouldn't be renewed, after questions were raised about the company's hiring last year of former BMV chief of staff Shawn Walters. The governor has asked Inspector General Cynthia Carrasco to investigate whether Walters' hiring or his actions on the job violated ethics rules.
The company says it hired Walters to pursue new business in other states. The BMV sent Walters a letter soon after his hiring, scolding him for contacting the bureau about Express MVA's contract. The company says it obeyed "verbatim" the bureau's directive to ban Walters from any further contact. The company says it's fulfilled its contract since 2009 "with excellence and unquestionable value to the state."