Hudson County, N.J. authorized $455,796 in identical IT items twice for vendor that gave Guy, HCDO $79,000

HUDSON TV EXCLUSIVE

By Julio Reynoso, Publisher & Editor

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Over a seven-week span between April and June 2026, the Hudson County Board of Commissioners voted to authorize the exact same six technology, fiber-optic and jail inmate Wi-Fi items for Kearny-based Johnston G.P., Inc. (doing business as JCT Solutions) twice — first under the Union County Cooperative Pricing System, and then again weeks later under the Bergen County Cooperative Pricing System — totaling $455,796.48 in duplicate board authorizations, county agendas reviewed by Hudson TV show. No rescission resolution appears on any agenda through Oct. 22.

The duplicate co-op sequence began on April 23, 2026 — just six days after JCT Solutions made a $32,000.00 in-kind contribution on April 17, 2026 to the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO), the county party committee chaired by Hudson County Executive Craig Guy. Across 2024 through 2026, JCT Solutions / Johnston G.P. contributed $79,000 to Guy’s campaign ($6,000) and the HCDO ($73,000) — $84,200 since 2022 — while reporting $7,558,963.99 in Hudson County contracts across 2024 and 2025 on its sworn state pay-to-play disclosures and owning Hindsight, Inc., the firm awarded a seven-year, $25.59 million county IT contract on Oct. 8.

Side-by-side: The six Johnston G.P. items approved twice under two different co-ops

Under New Jersey’s Local Public Contracts Law (N.J.S.A. 40A:11-11), counties may purchase goods and services through state-registered cooperative pricing systems without advertising for new county bids, provided the lead agency bid the underlying master contract. The April 23 and May 14, 2026 Johnston G.P. items were listed under the Union County Cooperative Pricing System.

On May 28 and June 11, 2026, however, the agendas listed Johnston G.P. purchases under the Bergen County Cooperative Pricing System — including all six Johnston G.P. items that the Board of Commissioners had already approved weeks earlier under the Union County Co-Op:

*Arithmetic note on April 23, 2026 (Item *13a): The two printed sub-items on the April 23 agenda — $84,800.00 for Countywide Network Segmentation and $34,800.00 for Server Room Equipment Removal — add up to $119,600.00, but the agenda prints both the vendor amount and the item total as $118,800.00 (which equals $84,000.00 plus $34,800.00, matching the $84,000.00 figure later printed on the June 11 agenda).

No rescission resolution on any agenda through Oct. 22 — and a third Case Cracker renewal

When Hudson County cancels or replaces a previously adopted contract or cooperative purchase for other vendors, the Board of Commissioners has placed formal rescission items on later meeting agendas — such as rescinding a minibus purchase awarded under Resolution No. 75-2-2025 (June 12, 2025), rescinding janitorial supplies set-aside awards to Glady’s Cleaning Services, LLC (July 17, 2025), and rescinding a special printing award (May 14, 2026).

By contrast, no rescission resolution for the April 23 or May 14 Johnston G.P. authorizations appears on any Hudson County Board of Commissioners regular or caucus agenda from May 28 through the final Oct. 22, 2026 regular meeting agenda, Hudson TV’s review found. Agendas do not show whether the county handled the earlier authorizations administratively; Hudson TV has requested the purchasing records (see below).

Three Case Cracker renewals in 22 months across two co-ops

Meanwhile, at the board’s most recent meeting on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026 (Consent Item *12a, Requisition No. 281234), commissioners approved another co-op switch for Johnston G.P. — authorizing $72,019.25 under the Bergen County Cooperative Pricing System (#CK04) for the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office for “Annual Maintenance Case Cracker Renewal For Software & Server Replacement.”

Agenda records show that Oct. 22 vote was the county’s third Case Cracker annual maintenance authorization for Johnston G.P. for the Prosecutor’s Office in 22 months, after two prior approvals under the Union County Co-Op:

• Dec. 23, 2024 (Item *22a, Union County Co-Op): $52,635.00 to Johnston G.P. to “Renew Annual Maintenance for Case Cracker Software (Req. No. 244602)” for the Prosecutor’s Office (following a $23,267.96 Case Cracker interview system purchase for the Correctional Center on Sept. 12, 2024).
• Jan. 29, 2026 (Item *11a, Union County Co-Op): $52,635.00 to Johnston G.P. (spelled “Johnson G.P” on the agenda) for “Annual Maintenance for Case Cracker Software (Req. No. 265296)” for the Prosecutor’s Office.
• Oct. 22, 2026 (Item *12a, Bergen County Co-Op #CK04): $72,019.25 to Johnston G.P. for “Annual Maintenance Case Cracker Renewal For Software & Server Replacement” (Req. No. 281234) for the Prosecutor’s Office.

Because commissioner agendas record board authorizations rather than final check disbursements, the agendas alone do not show whether the county encumbered or paid the April 23 and May 14 Union County Co-Op authorizations alongside the May 28 and June 11 Bergen County Co-Op authorizations, or whether the first co-op citations were quietly abandoned without a board rescission.

Who is Johnston G.P. / JCT Solutions? $7.56M in 2024–2025 county work, owner of Hindsight, and $79,000 to Guy and the HCDO

While Hudson County agendas list the vendor as Johnston G.P., Inc. of Kearny, N.J., the company’s sworn 2024 and 2025 Pay-to-Play Business Entity Annual Statements (Form BE, Vendor ID 10383) filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) identify the company as “Johnston GP Inc. dba Johnston Communications/JCT Solutions” (headquartered at 36 Commerce St., Springfield, N.J., with a Kearny office).

Those ELEC filings and county records show the scale of the company’s footprint across the Guy administration:

• $7,558,963.99 in 2024–2025 Hudson County contracts reported on Form BE: On its sworn Form BE statements, Johnston G.P. / JCT Solutions reported receiving $2,004,589.57 from the County of Hudson in 2024 ($1,823,679.55 general county + $180,910.02 at the Hudson County Correctional Facility, plus $9,990.00 at Hudson County Community College) and $5,554,374.42 from the County of Hudson in 2025 for “Telephone, Cameras, Door security, Network” — a two-year county total of $7,558,963.99 ($7,568,953.99 including HCCC).
• Owner of Hindsight, Inc. ($25.59M 7-year county IT contract): As County Communications Director Mark Cygan confirmed to Hudson TV on Oct. 19, Johnston Communications acquired longtime county IT vendor Hindsight, Inc. in 2023. On Oct. 8, 2026, the Board of Commissioners approved a seven-year, $25,593,480.20 IT management contract for Hindsight, the sole bidder — a contract where Guy’s administration cited staffing that Johnston/Hindsight had added on its own in 2023 to justify a 13.9% first-year price hike, and where Hindsight’s 2021 awarded bid included an $875,000 jail medical-records support line that the county says was never used.
• $79,000 to Guy and the HCDO in 2024–2026 ($84,200 since 2022): As Hudson TV reported Monday in its investigation of $543,100 in county contractor donations, ELEC reports show JCT Solutions / Johnston Communications gave $73,000.00 to the HCDO and $6,000.00 to Craig Guy for Hudson County Executive between Jan. 1, 2024 and Sept. 30, 2026 (plus $5,200 to Guy in 2022–2023 and $1,500 from two employees listing JCT/JCTC):

What it means for Hudson County taxpayers — and Thursday’s OPRA deadline

Under the 2023 Elections Transparency Act (P.L. 2023, c. 30), donations to county political party committees like the HCDO — and contracts awarded through cooperative purchasing systems — are exempt from New Jersey’s pay-to-play ban on non-fair-and-open contracts. At the same time, cooperative purchasing allows county departments to route millions of dollars in technology and infrastructure spending through consent-agenda items without advertising county-specific competitive bids, while funding those purchases through the county tax levy (which has risen 19.6% since 2023, from $414.18 million to $495.18 million in 2026).

Hudson County homeowners who want to check whether their property is over-assessed or see how county and municipal budget increases affect their annual tax bill can run a free check with GardenState.ai’s Property Tax Appeal check and model future tax impacts with the Tax Shock calculator.

On Oct. 20, 2026, Hudson TV filed Open Public Records Act request R007725-102026 with Hudson County seeking all 2026 purchase orders, payment vouchers, check-register entries, Union and Bergen co-op contract numbers, purchasing agent memos, and any rescission resolutions for the April 23, May 14, May 28, June 11 and Oct. 22 Johnston G.P. items. Under N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(i), the county’s statutory seven-business-day response deadline is Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. In an email Tuesday morning, Oct. 27, the HCDO responded to Hudson TV’s Oct. 23 inquiry, writing: “The HCDO is a partisan entity not related to the county government. We operate by the letter of the law in every instance, including in our fundraising, our filings and our reporting. Your question about JCT Solutions is actually answered on our ELEC report, and our recent ELEC reports are actually in the process of being amended by our accountant to correct the error regarding printing debt. The October 21st event was not hosted by HCDO.” On Schedule 2 () of the HCDO’s Q2 2026 Form R-3 report filed with ELEC (DocId 3945135), however, both the “Description” field and the “Comments” field next to JCT Solutions’ April 17, 2026 $32,000.00 in-kind contribution are blank. On the morning of Oct. 27, Hudson TV sent written questions to County Communications Director Mark Cygan, with copies to the County Executive’s Office, County Administrator Carol Doyle and County Counsel Alberico De Pierro, asking why the Johnston G.P. items were authorized twice under two different cooperatives without a rescission resolution and whether purchase orders or payments were issued under the April and May resolutions. The county had not responded by publication. This story will be updated with any response.

Hudson TV asks: Should Hudson County require competitive county bids — instead of co-op purchases — whenever a vendor’s annual county work tops $1 million? Reply A: Require competitive bids. Reply B: Keep using co-ops.
Share your take in the comments.

Have a tip about Hudson County contracts, IT spending or cooperative purchases? Email info@hudsontv.com.