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Minutes before an education panel was slated to vote on IT contracts worth more than half a billion dollars, one of the losing bidders made an unusual plea to delay the decision.
Despite warnings from city officials about setting a dangerous precedent, the Panel for Educational Policy listened.
“In the three years being on the panel, I’ve never left feeling like, ‘Man what did we just do?’” Greg Faulkner, the chairperson of the panel, told Chalkbeat after the vote. “We’ve just opened the door for others to do the same thing.”
At stake is a five-year, $517 million contract for updates to “core network infrastructure” to improve internet bandwidth in classrooms and administrative offices, city records show. The proposal would allow the city to buy networking equipment, servers, and extended warranties. City officials said the vote could delay a tech “refresh” that was scheduled to roll out this fall.
The panel, which votes on major Education Department spending requests, typically approves contracts easily. Mayor Eric Adams controls the Education Department and also selects 13 of the 24 voting members. But on Wednesday night, city officials could only muster 10 of the 13 votes needed to approve the technology contracts.
The vote came after a striking maneuver by ConvergeOne, one of the nine companies that did not win bids for the technology contract. A company rep, Ron Gill, showed up during a public comment period just before Wednesday’s vote and argued there were “easily identifiable mistakes” in the city’s reasoning for passing over the company. Their bid was also the least expensive — about $119 million less than the winning proposal.
Gill stressed that the company has a meeting scheduled with city officials next week to discuss the matter. “I’m asking you simply to do one thing: Don’t make a decision tonight,” he said.
That argument seemed to persuade some panel members.
“If we set up a follow up with a company to discuss a contract … and then we vote on it before we resolve that, I just think that’s kind of a bit unfair,” said Tom Sheppard, a parent-elected panel member from the Bronx who abstained from the technology vote.
Panel member Camille Casaretti also expressed concern, noting “the DOE stands to lose $120 million” that could be spent on other pressing initiatives. Casaretti, who was appointed by the Brooklyn borough president and abstained, noted that the company had raised concerns in writing before Wednesday’s vote.
Naveed Hasan, another parent-elected panel member who abstained, said it can be difficult to weigh arguments that are brought to the panel immediately before a vote without having time to ask for responses from city officials. “People come to the [panel] and make statements that are new to us while we’re sitting there and it becomes a little bit confusing,” he said.
City records indicate that ConvergeOne wasn’t selected for the contract because information was missing for their proposal, and it was deemed “non-responsive.” The company disputed that determination, but city officials wrote that their “protest was recommended for disposition due to insufficient evidence provided by the vendor.”
The two companies approved by the Education Department for the contracts — Presidio Networked Solutions Group LLC and World Wide Technology LLC — did not respond to messages seeking comment about the panel’s vote.
Companies have the right to challenge the process, but those should flow through official channels, First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg told the panel Wednesday evening.
If the panel acts “outside of the procedures in one case because of what we hear from a losing bidder, then it’s going to be very difficult for us to not do that in every single case when there are losing bidders,” he said. Weisberg added that the city considers price in awarding contracts but it is “never the only factor.”
But even as the mayor appoints the majority of the panel, the administration failed to garner the 13 necessary votes. Nine mayoral appointees voted in favor of the contracts. But Darling Miramey, one of the mayor’s appointees who has previously bucked city proposals, abstained from the vote.
One mayoral appointee was absent and another showed up after the vote had already concluded. An additional mayoral slot is vacant. Faulkner, whom the mayor selected from a list of candidates approved by state officials, voted in favor.
The remaining members, who are appointed by borough president and parent leaders, either voted no or abstained.
Education Department spokesperson Jenna Lyle confirmed that the city plans to meet with ConvergeOne next week, but she stressed that it was a courtesy and that their bid is not being reconsidered.
“We closely follow our established policies and procedures in order to maintain integrity and fairness in the contract process, including for the contract in question,” Lyle wrote.
Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.
