In its board meeting last week, CDA reviewed the qualifying certificates of two companies operating as call centers in the Northern Mariana Islands: We Manage Calls Inc. and IT&E.
The agency had earlier recommended to the governor the revocation of We Manage Calls Inc.’s qualifying certificate; however, it remained active as the governor has not acted on CDA’s recommendation from 2008.
CDA economic development analyst Carline Sablan told the board that the two companies did not move forward with their planned investments given the timeline required by their respective qualifying certificates.
At the time it applied for a qualifying certificate, IT&E was still known as PTI Services Inc.
The CDA board approved its qualifying certificate on June 11, 2009 and the governor gave his approval on June 30, 2009.
Sablan reported to the board that IT&E did not meet the requirement to invest $3.2 million within 16 months of the effective date of their qualifying certificate.
She also told the board she had met with Rose Soledad and Larry Knecht of IT&E earlier this year and had been informed of their board’s convening sometime in mid-November to discuss their plans.
CDA board chairman Pedro I. Itibus asked Sablan if IT&E had been informed of their non-compliance and Sablan stated the company was aware of this.
She told the board that she asked Soledad to consult with their management on what IT&E’s intentions are.
CDA legal counsel Vicente Salas provided Sablan with a suggestion, “You can expedite this process by issuing a notice of intent to revoke or suspend, giving the beneficiary company 15 days to request an opportunity to be heard by the board and obviously if they request a hearing, then we will give them a hearing.”
Salas also said that should the company fail to request a hearing, then CDA can move forward to the next step — advise the governor that its qualifying certificate should be suspended or revoked.
“It has to go through an administrative process, I think some kind of response is necessary. Give them the opportunity to be heard,” he said.
Itibus said, “Why don’t we take the route suggested by our legal counsel.”
Asked for comment, IT&E chief executive officer Ricky Delgado said: “We are continuing with the call center and trying all ways to grow it even though we are faced with extremely high power and labor costs vis-à-vis India and the Philippines.”
He added, “We have not yet utilized the QC even though we are in the business, and plan to keep it if the business can grow beyond what it is today.”
Delgado said IT&E remains committed to pursuing a robust capex plan and is continuously upgrading and expanding its network.
“We will remain open to investing on a case by case basis, but as a group are now working very hard, as we have signed a deal to purchase the LPG business of Shell in the Philippines (Shellane). This is a great leap forward for our group of companies.”
For a proposed investment of $3,206,980, IT&E’s qualifying certificate No.2009-01 was approved by the governor on June 30, 2009.
According to its amended qualifying certificate, IT&E would receive rebates of BGR taxes paid to the CNMI government for 20 years. It is eligible to receive a rebate equal to 100 percent of BGRT in excess of the existing tax base.
