For the second time, a judge has declared the bid practices of the Superintendent Malcolm Thomas and the Escambia County School District unfair and ordered the district to rebid a contract.
The latest case involved a $1.9 million health care contract that Judge Bruce McKibben said was awarded through a “questionable” process with an “appearance of impropriety.” Read Pediatric_ECSD – Recommended.
Judge McKibben recommended that a final order be entered declaring the award of a contract under RFP No. 181001 to Aloa Care Group “erroneous, arbitrary and capricious.”
The winning bidder was given help by a member of the evaluation committee, Martha Hanna. Hanna even wrote a letter of recommendation for Aloa Care Group, a company that was formed by a former employee of Pediatric Services of America, the previous vendor. Aloa Care Group had only two employees and no other contracts or financial history prior to being awarded the school district’s business, according to court records.
It would appear the school district decided who they wanted to get the business before the bids were submitted and rigged the process to award it to its favorite.
A similar situation occurred two years ago – Fighting for a Fair Bid Process.
Jani-King met all the bid requirements and had the best bid price for the district’s custodial services. That was until another bid surfaced seven days after the March 1, 2016 deadline. School district officials said the bid from American Facility Services (AFS) of Alpharetta, Ga. was submitted Feb. 15, 2016 but somehow had gotten lost in the mail room.
The request for proposals required audited financial statements. AFS had submitted two years of reviewed, not audited, financial reports. Failure to fulfill the audited statement requirement meant the vendor would get a zero in that category of the evaluation process.
Instead, the school district ranked AFS at the top and Jani-King second. Following the recommendations of the selection committee and Superintendent Thomas, the school board awarded the five-year, $1.5 million contract to AFS.
Jani-King appealed the decision. Administrative Law Judge W. David Watkins issued a ruling on Aug. 16, 2016 that sided with Jani-King and said the Escambia County School District broke Florida law governing public contract awards by ignoring the fact that AFS failed to provide audited financial statements.
But here’s what is troubling, Superintendent Thomas ignored the ruling.
On Sept. 20, 2016, the school district filed its own five-page response signed by the school board chairman Bill Slayton and Superintendent Thomas. It stated that the school board has “substantive jurisdiction†over state purchasing laws and its “interpretation†was “more reasonable†than the one handed down by Watkins.
Reportedly, School District Chief Financial Officer Terry St. Cyr told the Jani-King’s franchisee, “You’re never going to get this contract.â€
The school board canceled the custodial contract with AFS and rebid the entire job. This time the school board dropped the requirement for companies to provide the higher accounting standard of audited statements. The new custodial contract went to PESG Facilities Services.
Superintendent Thomas and his administration learned nothing from the Jani-King case and appear to have continued to scheme to award multi-million dollar contracts to whomever it wants regardless of qualifications.
Vendors who challenged the award of contracts appear to be blackballed.