The Virginia-based company criticized for the substandard quality of care it provided at the state-run veterans home in Milledgeville is fighting Georgia’s intent to end its contract and award a $177 million tender to run the facility to a new firm.
STG International, Inc., whose track record at the Georgia War Veterans Home was the subject of an investigation by The Current GA in 2025, has formally protested the results of the tender ranking Health Management Resources Governmental Service, LLC as the top applicant. It alleges that the rival submitted a “misleading” proposal about its track record in running similar veterans homes in other states and wants Georgia to reverse the decision.
HMR General Counsel Meghan Riordan did not respond to the assertions made by STGi. She said that the Anderson, South Carolina-based company which operates veterans homes in South Carolina, Alabama, and Texas was “excited” to extend its services to Georgia veterans and would work to ensure a continuity of care for the 150 veterans at Milledgeville.
STGi’s current contract is due to end June 30, yet its protest, filed on April 27, halts the tender process while the state procurement agency resolves the dispute.
Georgia opened the tender for bids in December, shortly after The Current published stories revealing a pattern of systemic problems at the state-owned home and the deficiencies cited by the U.S. Veterans Administration inspectors about the facility.
The Current’s six-month investigation was based on interviews with seven staff members who worked directly in patient care there and veterans families, as well as records and documents and showed the following:
- An estimated 50% of staff newly hired by STGi in 2025 had quit by year’s end.
- Specialized nurses assigned to the Memory Care Unit at the facility were frequently reassigned from that floor to plug staffing holes on other floors, leaving the most vulnerable residents without proper levels of trained caregivers.
- Nurses without licenses to dispense medications have given agitated residents psychotropic drugs not authorized by the attending physician, as a way to lessen workloads for staff.
- While the contract with the state demands two fulltime licensed social workers, a key part of a care team who help the psychological well-being of residents, the facility hired one without the required license.
STGi did not have any experience with skilled nursing homes or memory care facilities before Georgia awarded it the Milledgeville contract in 2024, but it now operates veterans homes in two other states. It did not respond to multiple requests for comment last year, and company officials did not respond to requests for comment about their protest of the ongoing Georgia tender process.
In response to requests for comment in 2025, Georgia’s Department of Veterans Services Commissioner Patricia Ross denied that Milledgeville was experiencing understaffing, and she said that staff and patient criticism of care at the facility were always “promptly” dealt with.
Her agency declined to provide comment about STGi’s performance last December, saying it would be inappropriate as the state was preparing a request for proposals to bid for the management contract of the facility and state procurement protocols that prohibit the appearance of bias.
Georgia published its intent to award notification about the winning bidder for the Milledgeville facility on April 17, and STGi filed its protest on April 27.
In a news report by Macon television station WMAZ that aired April 30, Commissioner Ross and STGi’s current executive director of Milledgeville highlighted changes and improvements at the facility made since the VA’s inspection of the home in August that outlined deficiencies related to infection control, fall prevention, fire safety and improperly secured medications.
The Macon television story also cited facility director Jessica Searcy and the head of nursing saying changes in staffing and patient care had also been made.
In response to questions by The Current about the ongoing tender dispute Ross said the facility tour, which took place in late March, was not intended to influence the contractual process in any way. Her agency, she said, “remains committed to maintaining strict neutrality during the active procurement and protest process and has not engaged in any actions intended to influence or impact that process.”
Georgia’s Department of Administrative Services did not reply to questions about whether such responses by Ross could be construed as an appearance of bias on behalf of STGi.
