Tiny School Gets No-Bid Work From Homeland Security:

Agency deems Mercyhurst College the sole source to provide training for intelligence analysts

WASHINGTON, March 16, 2005 - A tiny college located in the hometown ofex-Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is negotiating a no-bidcontract to train intelligence analysts for the sprawling agency. Indoing so, the agency is short-circuiting a selection process that would normally include a host of bigger and better known institutions already working in that field such as George Washington University andGeorgetown University.

Late last month, the Department of Homeland Security filed notice it was entering into negotiations on a sole source basis with Mercyhurst>College in Erie, Pa., to develop and run an intelligence analyst-certificate program for the department. Mercyhurst is a liberal arts, private, Catholic school located on the eastern shore of Lake Erie. The school has an enrollment of about 3,100.......