Contracting
Dear Contractors:
A series of Washington Post editorials and a column by Colbert
King have said that it’s a bad idea and an opportunity for corruption
to require city council approval of government contracts over a million
dollars. The argument they make is that requiring council approval gives
councilmembers an opportunity to insert themselves into the process and
to demand favors from companies bidding for government contracts, and
that professional bureaucrats in the mayor’s administration would be
more objective and honest than councilmembers. What neither the
editorial board nor King have noted was that city council approval for
large contracts was instituted in 1995 as a good government measure, in
order to prevent corruption.
One example of the kiind of government contracting that led to the
demand for city council oversight was a contract for oil deliveries to
public housing complexes. The delivery company that had won the contract
for several years could legally charge ten percent over the prevailing
rate because a preference was in effect for minority companies, but it
actually charged about twenty-five percent over the prevailing rate. But
that overcharge wasn’t the worst thing about the contract. The boilers
in the public housing complexes kept breaking down. It took a while to
determine why the boilers were failing, and to make sure that the
building maintenance crews weren’t at fault. But eventually it was
found that the boilers were breaking down because they were running out
of oil, and running dry. It took longer to determine why the boilers
were running out of oil. Further investigation eventually found that the
company that delivered the oil would come back a few days after making
deliveries and pump oil out of the boiler tanks and back into their
trucks. The twenty-five percent premium over the prevailing rate wasn’t
enough to satisfy the company, so it resorted to stealing the oil back.
The Barry administration, which awarded the oil contract, refused to
pull it from its favored company, so the council, prompted by media
reports, held hearings to expose the story. That’s all it had the
power to do.
One of the main objectives of Congress in creating the Control Board
main objectives was to end the chronic overspending of the DC
government, under both the Barry and the Sharon Pratt Kelly
administrations. Loose contracting procedures were a major cause of
government overspending. In fact, many contracts weren’t even written;
they were done as verbal agreements, or were amended without notice to
the council. As part of a number of fiscal reforms that were done in the
legislation that created the Control Board, the city’s Home Rule
Charter was amended to give the council the power to review and
disapprove large contracts. The council has rarely exercised that power,
but the fact that the power exists at all has acted as a check, however
imperfect, on administrative favoritism and overspending.
Actually, neither the city council nor the administration can or
should be trusted all the time, or under all circumstances. There’s no
perfect solution, but the best option is to have the most oversight, and
the highest degree of checks and balances, between competing branches of
government. Even though the executive branch sends the city council only
a summary of a contract, at least it exposes to the public the existence
of a contract, and the names of the entities who benefit from a
contract. If we were to end city council oversight of large government
contracts, we would place too much trust in the administration and in
future administrations. The council needs to reform its handling of
contracts, and to write rules requiring councilmembers to be open and
transparent in how they deal with contracts. But the last thing the
council needs to do is to withdraw its oversight of government
contracting.
#####
Another piece by Natalie Hopkinson on DC schools covers the IFF study
that encourages closing some additional public schools and opening
charter schools to replace them — http://tinyurl.com/7bg7ve6
Gary Imhoff
gary@dcwatch.com
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Unemployment Discrimination Bill Must Go
Further to Make a Real Difference
Ari Weisbard, Employment Justice Center, aweisbard (at)
dcejc.org
On Tuesday, the DC council unanimously approved a first reading of
the Unemployed Anti-Discrimination Act. The bill, sponsored Council
Chair Kwame Brown, is supposed to help the unemployed by making it
illegal for employers and employment agencies to engage in
discriminatory hiring practices against unemployed applicants. The
intent is to put an end to the growing trend of businesses saying in
their job listings that applicants “must be currently employed” to
be considered. Coming across these job posts is a disheartening
experience for unemployed workers and it’s a step forward that the DC
Council is making this kind of discrimination illegal. Unfortunately, as
with so many workplace protection laws, the protections people have on
paper will be worth a lot less in practice unless the bill is
strengthened.
Due to last minute changes made to the bill after the public hearing,
unemployed job applicants won’t be able to validate their rights in
court or get adequate compensatory damages or other remedies. Instead,
unlike victims of racial, sex-based, or other types of employment
discrimination covered by the Human Rights Act, those facing
discrimination in hiring because they are unemployed will be limited to
filing a claim at the overworked Office of Human Rights. This is a
weakening of the bill since it was first introduced and one that is
likely to have significant consequences. At the Employment Justice
Center, our experience with the Office of Human Rights is that
defendants who violate discrimination laws only settle claims because
they know that otherwise they’ll end up in court. With the courts
closed to victims of unemployment-based discrimination, the law will be
inadequately enforced because it will be too burdensome for individuals
to investigate and bring claims and they will have no way to hire
attorneys to help them. While the DC Chamber of Commerce and other
business lobbying groups will be pleased that the new law will have few
teeth in it, those who care about protecting unemployed workers should
demand that it be strengthened before its final reading on February 22.
Otherwise, many unemployed job applicants will face the sad Catch-22
where some businesses won’t consider them for a job simply because
they don’t already have one.
###############
Libraries Are Changing
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com
Libraries around the nation and around the world are changing. Here’s
a PCWorld magazine blog post I wrote yesterday about a logic
puzzle tournament that has become a tradition at the Chappaqua Public
Library, in Chappaqua, New York: http://tinyurl.com/7jbggov.
What new library traditions will we invent here in the DC-area? Who will
be the inventors of those traditions? Take a good hard look at yourself
in your bathroom mirror. Yup, ain’t nobody here but us chickens.
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The College Success Foundation — District of Columbia has selected
its sixth cohort of DC Achievers Scholarship Candidates. Cohort six
consists of 283 DC Achievers scholarship candidates from our six partner
schools. The new class of Achievers includes 35 Achievers from Anacostia
Senior High School, 36 Achievers from Ballou Senior High School, 49
Achievers from Woodson Senior High School, 38 Achievers from Thurgood
Marshall Academy Public Charter School, 36 Achievers from Maya Angelou
Public Charter School, and 89 Achievers from Friendship Collegiate
Public Charter High School. Our sixth cohort of Achievers represent an
impressive group of young leaders who are already leaving a mark on
their schools.
Since our inception in 2007, the College Success Foundation has
selected more than one thousand four hundred students as DC Achievers
scholarship candidates and currently supports nearly seven hundred DC
college students at more than one hundred colleges and universities
across the country. Additionally, our fifth cohort of Achievers will
graduate from our Achiever partner high schools this June. These 271
young men and women have received acceptances from some of our nation’s
leading colleges and universities and will be entering college this
fall.
We look forward to welcoming our new Achievers to the College Success
Foundation family and look forward to supporting them in pursuing their
dream of attending college and achieving their goal of obtaining a
bachelor’s degree.
###############
InTowner
New
Content Now Uploaded
P.L. Wolff, intowner@intowner.com
This is to advise that the February issue content has been posted at http://www.intowner.com,
including the issue PDF. There will be found the primary news stories
and certain features, including the popular Scenes from the Past (this
month titled “Dupont East’s 17th Street Retains Parts of its
Early-to-Middle 20th Century Past”) — plus all photos and other
images; other features not included in the PDF, such as Recent Real
Estate Sales (which will be updated within the next 24 hours), can be
linked directly from the web site’s home page.
This month’s lead stories include the following: 1) “Adams Morgan
Residents Confused by New Law for Ward 1 Parking Plan — Neither
Council Member Nor DDOT Satisfy Doubts”; 2) “Petworth Community
Market Announces Plans”; 3) “Historical Marker Plaque Dedicated at
Cosmos Club; Prototype for More to Come.”
Our editorial this month focuses on the highly critical report of the
DC Inspector General on the awarding of the Lottery contract,
specifically his calling attention to the — at a minimum, the
appearance — of conflict of interest on the part of At-large
Councilmember Michael Brown. (From the Publisher’s Desk, “Internet
Gambling in DC is Dead. Long Live Internet Gambling in DC –- If
At-large Councilmember Brown Gets His Way Again.”) Your thoughts are
welcome and can be sent by clicking the comment link at the bottom of
the web page or by E-mail to letters@intowner.com. The next issue PDF
will publish early in the morning of March 9 (the second Friday of the
month as usual). For more information, either send an E-mail to
newsroom@intowner.com or call 234-1717.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Environmental Health Group (EHG) Events,
February 14
Allen Hengst, ahengst@rcn.com
World War I munitions, bottles filled with chemical warfare agents,
and contaminated soil have been found in and around the Spring Valley
neighborhood of northwest DC. The Environmental Health Group (EHG) seeks
to raise awareness of the issues and encourage a thorough investigation
and cleanup. Every Saturday at 1:00 p.m., please join the Environmental
Health Group for an informal discussion about Spring Valley issues. In
the cafe at the Glover Park Whole Foods Market, 2323 Wisconsin Avenue
(one block south of Calvert Street). For more information, visit the EHG
on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Washington-DC/Environmental-Health-Group/67807900019.
Tuesday, February 14, 7:00 p.m.: Dr. Mary Fox from Johns Hopkins
University will give a brief update on the Spring Valley Follow-On
Health Study. At the monthly Restoration Advisory Board meeting with the
US Army Corps of Engineers, Saint David’s Episcopal Church basement,
5150 Macomb Street, NW (one block north of MacArthur Boulevard), http://www.nab.usace.army.mil/Projects/Spring%20Valley/.
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Unbuilt Washington, February 15
Stacy Adamson, sadamson@nbm.org
Unbuilt Washington: The City that Could Have Been (and Might Yet Be).
G. Martin Moeller, Jr., National Building Museum senior vice president
and curator, explores the Washington that could have been by presenting
architectural and urban design projects that were proposed but never
executed. This lecture complements the exhibition Unbuilt Washington,
which will be open for viewing before the lecture. Wednesday, February
15, 6:30-8:00 p.m., at the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW,
Judiciary Square Metro station. Register for events at http://www.nbm.org.
$12 members, $12 students, $20 nonmembers. Prepaid registration
required.
###############
Grand Opening Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony of Bread
for the City’s Dental Clinic, February 16
Sharon Baskerville, dcpca@mail.democracyinaction.org
The District of Columbia Primary Care Association (DCPCA) is proud to
announce the grand opening ribbon-cutting ceremony of Bread for the City’s
new dental clinic at its Northwest Center, located at 1525 7th Street,
NW, at 6:00 p.m., on Thursday, February 16. At 6:30 p.m., Bread for the
City staff will hold an open house and a reception, where appetizers and
soft drinks will be served. (RSVP by February 10 to rsvp@breadforthecity.org.)
Bread for the City’s $6.8 million expansion project was completed
in January 2011 at its Northwest Center in the Shaw neighborhood. DCPCA
granted more than $5 million – close to 75 percent of project costs
— as part of its Medical Homes DC grant program to Bread for the City.
This grant came with significant technical assistance from DCPCA’s
advisors in finance and real estate development. Bread for the City
leveraged DCPCA’s grant with a New Markets Tax Credit, as well as
grants from private individuals and foundations, to secure full funding
for its project, with no debt. Bread for the City’s dental clinic has
two chairs, one dentist, and one dental assistant. The dental clinic
will provide oral examinations, X-rays, dental cleaning, fluoride
treatment, scaling and root planing, sealants, restorative work,
extractions, and dentures. Bread for the City anticipates serving 1,100
unique dental patients through approximately 2,544 patient visits
annually, with $161 estimated as the average cost per dental visit.
The expansion of Bread for the City’s Northwest Center was
primarily for its health care services. The renovation to its existing
facility permits Bread for the City’s medical clinic to see
approximately nine thousand patients annually — up from about three
thousand per year. This new center allows Bread for the City to triple
its capacity to provide health care to the community — insuring that
the District’s under- and uninsured residents receive the high quality
health care that they deserve. This new facility was the first major
expansion project largely funded by DCPCA’s Medical Homes DC Capital
Projects initiative. DCPCA is proud to be the major funder of this
capital project, and of the good work that Bread for the City does in
our community. Bread for the City is also one of the six community
health centers that participated as early adopters of electronic health
records through a health information technology project initiated by
DCPCA.
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