November 2, 2009
Office of the City Clerk
915 I Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
To: Lyn Corbett, Director and Denise, Curl, Analyst, Office of Youth Development,
Office of the City Manager, City of Sacramento, California
915 I Street, 5th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814-2604
and
To: Ray Kerridge, City Manager,
Kevin Johnson, Mayor,
Sacramento City Council
915 I Street
Sacramento, CA 95814-2604
Transmitted by email to addressed parties, with hard copy sent by postal mail to Mr. Corbett.
Subject: Appeal of Bid Award to Less Qualified Contractor than Bidder Creative Concepts Systems for RFP No. P1011001241001, Submittal Deadline: Friday, October 16, 2009.
Dear Mr. Corbett:
After three days of fruitless discussion with you and/or Denise Curl on your staff, as you were notified in person on Friday, October 30, 2009 in the conference room of your office suite, Creative Concepts Systems is appealing the decision made to award the contract to provide Community Based Counselors at Sacramento/Natomas High Schools—Burbank, McClatchy and Inderkum—to Panacea Services, a drug/alcohol treatment/anger management program for the following reasons:
1. The program proposed by Creative Concepts Systems (CCS) was submitted, in compliance with the requirements of the RFP for Proposals for Counseling Services for Attendance Centers which will provide counseling services in three area high schools in response to current high rates of truancy which have negative educational impact on truant students and can lead to many other problems. Some consequences may be related to criminal activity, such as drug, alcohol or gang violence, but it was clear from the RFP and the associated documents provided at the bidder’s conference that the goals of the community based counseling centers in these schools was largely related to comprehensive educational goals, including school dropout rates and academic achievement. The CCS proposal provides a comprehensive plan of action by the most highly and relevantly educated professionals, each with more than 20 years of directly relevant experience, well known in the community as educators with equally extensive records of community service to all segments of our diverse community. Such a plan is rarely available to schools because of the relatively low level of compensation available for this RFP compared to the salaries ordinarily paid to professionals with this level of competence which includes extensive research and scholarship in education.
While to date, all requests for access to the winning proposal have been denied by Mr. Corbett and Ms. Curl, Panacea Services maintains a website listing its mission, goals, affiliations and current staff. There is no indication of any associations with educational institutions at any levels beyond presentations about drugs, alcohol and perhaps anger. The long list of school names does not provide any indication of more than these kinds of presentations. There is no indication of any education or experience relating to the field of education, truancy as an education related problem, understanding of educational consequences of truancy and worst of all, no indication of relevant and adequate staff education. Five of the 11 staff members, including the Director and Financial Manager, do not have any college degree. The only possible post-high school education listed for these individuals are drug/alcohol related certificates issued by an association of drug/alcohol counselors—not by any educational institutions. It is not clear if these individuals have high school diplomas, though the Director may have a GED. The other staff members listed have BA or BS degrees without majors listed. None have graduate degrees.
By comparison, CCS proposed staff have 3 education related doctoral recipients, each with additional degrees in education, human behavior and other directly relevant areas. The CCS Program Manager has a BA with double major in English and Education, MA in English and has completed all but dissertations for doctorates in Adult Education and Educational Leadership and Change. The 5th member of the CCS group has directly relevant AA and BA degrees. The willingness of the proposed CCS staff to work on this project derives from clear understanding of the crisis confronting Sacramento area schools, knowledge of community and student concerns being widely expressed, and dedication to developing a positive response to educational systems in crisis.
2. The services and program outlined by CCS draws on the education, professional and life experiences of the proposed counselors, consultant and program manager which are sources of insights, knowledge of past and current socio-economic conditions and problems impacting educational institutions and students, along with lifetime commitments to improving education and securing human and civil rights for all. The backgrounds of all participants in the CCS proposed program are documented.The successful work of all CCS participants is evident in the numerous, innovative education and community programs and activities which have brought them successes in Sacramento, California and other communities. In addition, Better Business Ventures, which was proposed to handle all financial operations, has a 23 year directly relevant history, with a staff of qualified individuals certified for IRS practices and with memberships in national associations of accountants and bookkeepers to provide the most accountable, transparent, independent handling of the program’s finances.
Panacea Services, on its website, had no indication of any work with or understanding of diverse populations which they could draw on to address cultural issues that CCS and its proposed staff know exist and have successfully worked to resolve for many years. Close examination of the Panacea website did not show any words related to diversity, multiculturalism, or related terminology until yesterday when a single sentence related to the topic was noted.
Whereas the CCS proposed counselors, consultant and program manager are people of color and the five staff of Better Business Ventures are not. Only one member of the Panacea staff appears to be a person of color. Since the schools to be served are overwhelmingly attended by students of color and since faculty and staff of color are underrepresented at schools as related to the students and communities served, real understanding and extensive education and experience in working with diverse populations is critical to success with the target student population and their families and communities. Mere token attention in this area can be harmful to the situation and certainly cannot be helpful in meeting the needs of the students. Reducing truancy is most of all the need of the students themselves to meet educational requirements so that they can achieve the highest possible levels of education and employment and be good citizens. A focus solely on drugs, alcohol and anger has the effect of criminalizing truancy, putting students at risk of being labeled for these behaviors by participating in the community based counseling if administered by an agency with no other experience or any other kind of education and with no education provided by higher education institutions. Students who are treated as criminals will either become what they are labeled or they will rebel and refuse to participate and hence continue being truant with consequences that they and their parents risk incarceration. In either scenario, lacking understanding of educational processes, strategies for changing human behavior and knowledge of other social and cultural issues, students subjected to this treatment are doomed to failures. All of the CCS team opposes this kind of outdated, punitive, control-oriented response to an educational problem. We know and are experienced in more relevant and appropriate educational strategies and methods.
3. CCS appeals the decision to award the contract for Community Based Counseling Services to Panacea Services because Creative Concepts Systems has overwhelmingly more education, experience, and scholarship in all areas of relevance to this project. Although we have been repeatedly denied access to see the winning proposal, we have been unable to uncover any comparable or relevant education and experience on the Panacea Services website and in any research about Panacea administration and staff. By comparison, information about all participants for the CCS proposal are widely and easily ascertainable.
4. The appeal of the award to Panacea Services also reflects our assertion that the students to be served in the three high schools will be denied access to the highest quality of services if the award decision is not reversed. No other bidder for this RFP met the high level of qualification and experience offered by Creative Concepts Systems. We are knowledgeable of the other agencies who implemented this program for the past 2 years. CCS exceeds their qualifications as well.
5. Creative Concepts Systems herein requests a new and impartial review of our proposal which is in keeping with the written policy of the City of Sacramento that Prime Contractors are expected to hire staff who are qualified to carry out the tasks required to fulfill contracts. Our proposal meets that expectation beyond that of any other bidder responding to RFP No. 1011001241001. We further assert that the funding secured for this proposal was intended to fulfill educational objectives primarily, not law enforcement, although the CCS proposal does address law enforcement issues. It should also be noted that the CCS Project Director is experienced in criminal and civil law matters as a former police officer/juvenile aid officer/investigator and university affirmative action officer responsible for investigating and resolving discrimination complaints, responding to government civil rights enforcement agencies and testifying in court on civil and criminal cases. In addition, she has served as a board member of the Sacramento Mediation Center. That the Creative Concepts Systems proposal to provide Community Based Counseling Services for Attendance Centers was not awarded the contract, given its outstanding education, experience, skills and dedication to education and this community and that the award was made to an agency with minimal education for half its staff and no college education for the rest of its staff, along with a near complete absence of directly relevant experience is clearly an error and injustice which needs correction.
6. Creative Concepts Systems wishes to note for the record that the Office of Youth Development has provided inconsistent responses to queries about the award made to Panacea Services beginning on October 28, 2009 when Roger Jamison, requested access to the Panacea proposal from Denise Curl 4 days after CCS had been notified of the decision by telephone and told a letter would follow. No letter as of this writing has been received.
Mr. Jamison was informed by Ms. Curl that he would have to submit a Freedom of Information Act request in order to see the proposal. She gave him the form which he immediately completed and gave back to her. Ms. Curl then advised Mr. Jamison that the Office of Youth Development required 24 hours notice before complying with an FOIA request and thereby refused him access to the document.
Ms. Brooks, the Prime Contractor and proposed manager of the CCS program telephoned Denise Curl and Lisa Deklinski, Administrative Analyst for Sacramento Police Department who was the contact person for the RFP repeatedly on Wednesday, October 28 and on Thursday, October 29 until 3 PM with no responses. At 3:30 PM, Ms. Brooks met with Denise Curl at the Office of Youth Development to inform her that representatives of Creative Concepts Systems would come to their office on Friday, October 30 to review the Panacea proposal and that Ms. Brooks was providing 24 hours notice. Ms. Brooks asked Ms. Curl why Mr. Jamison had been required to complete a FOIA request when the same request had not been made of Ms. Brooks only a day later. Ms. Curl stated that she did not know who would have done that or why. She did not reveal that she was the person who had required it and had received the signed document from Mr. Jamison. Ms. Curl indicated that she would investigate the FOIA incident and would inform her supervisor, Lyn Corbett, about it as well. She further informed Ms. Brooks that she would inform Mr. Corbett of our plan to visit and see the Panacea proposal on Friday, October 30. In the 90 minute meeting with Ms. Curl, Ms Brooks reviewed all of the reasons Creative Concepts Systems objected to the award to Panacea Services. Ms. Curl indicated that she did not know the physical location of the Panacea proposal during that meeting, whether it was in the City Hall office or on Freeport Blvd. She indicated that she would let Ms. Brooks know if the CCS team should go to any other location than City Hall. Ms. Brooks expressed concern that the Panacea proposal might be modified and hope that this would not occur. Ms. Curl stated that Ms. Brooks would receive an email, rather than postal mail, confirmation of the telephone call the preceding Friday, October 23, notifying Ms. Brooks of the award to Panacea. No such email has been received as of this date.
On Friday, October 30, Ms. Brooks met Dr. Charlesetta Stalling and Roger Jamison at the Office of Youth Development about 11:30 AM. We were met by Lyn Corbett who indicated that he was in a meeting but would meet with us shortly. We waited in their conference room for about 35 minutes. Ms. Brooks informed Mr. Corbett that our visit was to review the proposal not to meet with him. Mr. Corbett stated that we could not see the proposal because it was not public information until the contract is signed. When asked why we were not notified if we were to be denied access to the proposal, he had no explanation. When asked about the FOIA request to Mr. Jamison, Mr.Corbett claimed that this was a normal procedure. When asked for a copy of the policy requiring this, he had no response and provided nothing. He was then informed by Ms. Brooks that an appeal of this decision would be made and that the group was disappointed that no informal resolution could be achieved. Ms. Brooks then requested a copy of the appeal procedure to utilize. Mr. Corbett stated that no appeal was allowed until Panacea’s contract had been signed and approved by the City Council. He also stated that no access to information about the appeal process was allowed until the Panacea contract was signed and approved by the City Council. Ms. Brooks disputed that, stating that access to information about any appeal process could not be denied nor considered confidential, that this is available information even when no complaint or intent to appeal exists. Mr. Corbett said the decision about the award was made by the Committee and unchangeable. Ms. Brooks asked if the members of the committee had relevant backgrounds to educational institutions and high school students.
Ms. Brooks also pointed out that the certificates held by 5 staff of Panacea are commonly earned by people in recovery from drug and alcohol abuse who want to work on helping others to sobriety. While this is a good cause, Ms. Brooks noted that the process of recovery from addictions includes relapses by many. Thus, placing recovering addicts, if any are among the staff of Panacea, would constitute a risk that one or more of the counselors could relapse, leaving an active addict in a position of trust with high school students. Further, Ms. Brooks advised that an active addict will not hesitate to sell drugs, including to high school students. Ms. Brooks advised Mr. Corbett that she had raised this issue previously with Ms. Curl on Thursday and wanted to know if any affirmative effort had been made to rule out this kind of danger for the students, since the Office of Youth Development, like teachers and child care providers, would have to be legally mandated to report dangers to children and youth. There was no indication that any attention had been or would be given to these possible circumstances. At that point, Mr. Corbett and Ms. Curl who had entered for the last few minutes of the meeting, both left. When they returned, Mr. Corbett handed Ms. Brooks a document which he said contained the appeal information and closed our meeting. At no time did Ms. Curl address the fact that she is the person who required Mr. Jamison to sign the FOIA request, nor that she had informed Mr. Jamison that he could see the Panacea proposal on Thursday, October 29 and had informed Ms. Brooks that she and her team could see it on Friday, October 30. When Brooks, Stalling and Jamison stepped outside the Office of Youth Development suite and stopped to confirm that Mr. Corbett had provided the requested appeal process information, it was discovered that Mr. Corbett had not provided any information about the appeal process. Instead, he had provided simply a copy of instructions on responding to an RFP.
All efforts to work informally with the Office of Youth Development have been rejected through changing and incorrect responses and in refusing to provide any information re appealing the decision. If further information is required to proceed with this appeal or additional information is required for any reason, it is requested herein. Every effort of Creative Concepts Systems to proceed with its appeal in compliance with City of Sacramento laws, policies and procedures has been challenged by the refusal of the Office of Youth Development to provide information and consistent responses.
Creative Concepts Systems will provide a new copy of its proposal if necessary to assure that the same copy is reviewed as was submitted. We also question how any agency could be expected to implement a program on Monday, October 26 when the committee decision about the award was not made until the afternoon of Friday, October, 23.
All of the members of the Creative Concepts Systems team hope that the award of this contract will be based on meeting the needs of the students and their families in the most appropriate manner by the best qualified, accountable personnel.
Submitted by Suzanne Brooks, Sole Proprietor, Creative Concepts Systems and Program Manager of the submitted proposal.