CDA’s Economic Development Analyst Carline Sablan apprised the board that the qualifying certificate was meant for a call center operation.
“They did not move forward with their plans given the timeline that was required by the QC,” she said.
Sablan said, “I know that back in late 2008 we had recommended the suspension or revocation of We Manage Calls qualifying certificate and the governor had not acted on CDA’s recommendation.”
The governor’s inaction on CDA’s recommendation kept the qualifying certificate active.
CDA legal counsel Vicente Salas expressed his opinion to revisit with the governor the agency’s previous recommendation for revocation of QC.
Salas said there should be dialogue between CDA and the governor to revisit the circumstances leading up to the original revocation and to decide on further action.
During the discussion, Sablan was asked by the board if there was an administrative hearing made.
Sablan said, “We Manage Calls Inc. was given the opportunity before. Then CDA recommended revocation to the governor but the latter did not act on this recommendation.”
CDA board chairman Pedro Itibus recommended that Sablan check the records on CDA’s previous action on We Manage Calls. “Go back and review the file to see if it was indeed correct that the board recommended to the governor to revoke the QC.”
Agreeing with Salas, Itibus told Sablan to bring this to the attention of the governor and explain that the agency had already gone through the administrative process and We Manage Calls had not responded.
On account of the company’s failure to respond, CDA is once again recommending revocation of its qualifying certificate.
We Manage Calls Inc. with QC No. 2005-02 was approved on Nov. 17, 2005 by CDA and on Nov. 28, 2005 by Governor Fitial.
With $2 million investment, We Manage Calls Inc. was given 10 percent rebate on corporate income tax for up to 10 years; 100 percent abatement of BGR taxes of up to five years; and 100 percent abatement of excise taxes for up to three years.
There was a cap for benefits not to exceed $2 million.
On Feb. 23, 2006, Fitial approved CDA’s recommendation to remove the $2 million cap.
In 2008, We Manage Calls was recommended by CDA to have its qualifying certificate revoked for non-compliance.
