GP Strategies sues 4 Puerto Rico towns to collect nearly $3.7M in unpaid fees
GP Strategies, a firm dedicated to providing solutions to improve organizational effectiveness, is suing four Puerto Rico municipal governments for non-payment of some $3.7 million, News is my Business learned.
In separate lawsuits filed at the Superior Courts in San Juan, Caguas, Carolina and Mayagüez, GP Strategies basically exposes the same cause for going after the towns of Loíza, Aibonito, Añasco and Juncos.
In 2017, after Hurricane María pummeled Puerto Rico and devastated most of the island, the four towns hired GP Strategies to provide expertise and services in securing funds to rebuild and repair damage sustained by municipal properties.
The lawsuit against Aibonito and its Mayor William Alicea-Pérez, establishes that the municipal government owes nearly $2 million in unpaid bills for two separate contracts for grant management and eligibility services, and professional and consulting services that GP Strategies offered.
The town of Loíza owes nearly $1.4 million, according to the suit filed against the municipality and its Mayor Julia Nazario-Fuentes. The company was to provide grant management and eligibility services to shore up funds.
“The actions of the municipality have caused damage to GP due to, among others, missed opportunities. This is so, since GP had to direct its resources to the services rendered to the municipality, resources that it could have invested in other opportunities,” according to the lawsuit.
“Unjustifiably, the municipality has refused to pay GP for the services contracted and rendered by the latter. Despite the good faith extrajudicial steps taken by GP and its representatives, the municipality continues to refuse to comply with its obligations,” the private firm states in all of the lawsuits filed.
The lawsuit against the municipality of Juncos, as well as its Mayor Alfredo Alejandro-Carrión, shows an outstanding debt of $211,400.
Meanwhile, the town that owes the least — Añasco, with a little more than $70,000 for several outstanding invoices — is also facing a lawsuit, as well as its Mayor Kabir Solares-García.
“This debt is past due and is liquid and enforceable,” the lawsuit states.
In every case, GP Strategies presented proposals to the towns, reaching contractual agreements with each one to provide its services.
