Wasting millions in the District
By: Jonetta Rose Barras
Examiner Columnist
July 19, 2009
The District faces a $600 million revenue shortfall. Every dime should count. So, why is Mayor Adrian M. Fenty throwing away $5 million?
He wants to award the Consolidated Forensics Laboratory construction contract to Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. of Baltimore. But, Tompkins Builders Inc., a District company, submitted a bid that’s $4.8 million lower.
In a July 10 letter to David Gragan, head of the Office of Contracting and Procurement, at-large D.C. Councilman Phil Mendelson asked, “What about the winning bid is worth $4.8 million more to the District?”
Good question.
Fenty administration officials and others agreed to speak with me only on condition of anonymity; they said contract information was proprietary until the council voted.
A July 13 “confidential” letter to Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray obtained by me provides the Fenty administration’s argument. Robin Eve-Jasper, head of the Office of Property Management, and Gragan wrote that Whiting-Turner had more technical experience and scored 97; Tompkins scored 83.
Mendelson said he was told by administration officials that Tompkins scored 92.4, and contracting documents state, “The total scores will not necessarily be determinative of the award.”
Eve-Jasper and Gragan also said the price difference was “not significant, considering the total value of the project.”
Some council members want to disapprove the contract. Tompkins likely will file a complaint — its second — with the contract appeals board.
The information I gathered demonstrates that contracting in the District — whether done by the council or the executive — is ripe for waste and/or abuse.
The Office of Contracting and Procurement expected only Whiting-Turner to respond to the request for proposals, sources said. OCP attempted to discount the experience of Tompkins’ parent company, Turner Construction (which is not related to Whiting-Turner), and disqualify Tompkins — although its initial bid was $3.2 million lower than that of Whiting-Turner. Tompkins subsequently filed its first complaint. The appeals board ordered OCP to reconsider Tompkins’ proposal. After all, it has demonstrated experience, pays local taxes and employs District residents.
Tony Reed, the OCP contracting officer, was troubled by agency officials’ actions and refused to sign off on the award to Whiting-Turner. Sources said he and Wilbur Giles, OCP’s chief of staff, squabbled. (Reed couldn’t be reached; Giles didn’t respond to my requests for comment.)
Meanwhile, Gragan delegated to the Office of Property Management independent contracting authority, with control over the forensics lab project. The transfer of responsibility happened despite a complaint by staffer Kathleen Linebaugh of contract steering at OPM. The inspector general is investigating that charge. (Linebaugh was fired and has filed a lawsuit.)
Giles, Whiting-Turner’s alleged defender, became OPM’s deputy director of contracting and procurement. Interestingly, he once worked in Baltimore, where Whiting-Turner is headquartered. Giles was head of capital projects for Baltimore public schools.
While there, he was suspended for his role in a no-bid contracting scandal. In 2007, he told me he “did nothing wrong” and “was up against time constraints.” Still, that history has some people holding their noses.
Whatever happens, one thing seems certain: District residents likely will pay millions to resolve this latest contracting mess.
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