Ackerman steers work again:Inquirer

**CapsuleF** · 11-28-2010, 12:33 PM

Ackerman steered work, sources say | Philadelphia Inquirer | 11/28/2010

Please follow this link that once again describes how Ackerman and terrible school executives continue to blatantly steal from the taxpayer with pay-to-play politics. Disgusting. I would also advise for everyone to spread this story around to as many places as they can.

**Hospitalitygirl** · 11-28-2010, 01:09 PM

Well you have helped the cause by starting another thread on this very topic! This story is now in three threads (FYI, there is a rather lengthy thread devoted to dear Ackerman and her various exploits).

**Jay from Philly** · 11-28-2010, 01:10 PM

Here's the School District's response to the article. Philly.com is not allowing comments on the article. The letter is in italics. My own comments are below.

School District response to Inquirer article on Ackerman | Philly | 11/28/2010

The School District of Philadelphia
Office of Communications
440 N. Broad Street, Suite 102
Philadelphia, PA 19130-4015
(215)400-4040

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Shana Kemp
(215)416-3091
skemp@philasd.org

November 28, 2010

SCHOOL DISTRICT RESPONSE TO PROCUREMENT ARTICLE

The School District’s primary goal is to tend to the needs of students attending our schools. Safety is paramount for our children, our staff and our visitors. Under the powers granted to the School Reform Commission (SRC), the School District has broad discretion concerning procurement. In the matter reported today, the School District decided to rely on its authority to structure this procurement contract on an emergency basis in order to expedite the installation of security cameras in the School District’s 19 persistently dangerous schools, consistent with the School District’s procurement policies and the School District’s Safe Schools Initiative. A recent Safe Schools audit determined that surveillance cameras, and other changes in practice, are a key element to enhancing school climate under Project: Safe Schools.

Both the School Reform Commission and the Superintendent have emphasized that qualified Minority and Women Businesses (MWBE) should have ample opportunity to provide services to the school district. IBS, one such MWBE, is certified by the city and the company has a wealth of experience. They are qualified to do the work that we tasked them to do. They have been recognized for their work in the Delaware Valley and we are happy to have the opportunity to work with their team of experts.

Why this firm had be selected backchannel and no one will talk publicly is not addressed. Someone who's been around the block in Philly politics first impression would be that the firm has some kind of ties to Ackerman, and she is getting a kickback of some sort. Publically, Shana Kemp letter to the Inky and Daily News sends the not-so subtle message of: IBS is Black, we're Black, we chose IBS because they are Black, and anyone raising any further questions will be called racist for doing so. Got anything to say now, crackuh?

**Tedk** · 11-28-2010, 06:07 PM

Originally Posted by CapsuleF

Please follow this link that once again describes how Ackerman and terrible school executives continue to blatantly steal from the taxpayer with pay-to-play politics.

Well I guess we'll just have to give her another bonus.

**torts** · 11-30-2010, 10:28 AM

Arlene Ackerman is "way smarter" than Paul Vallas.

**Eames** · 12-01-2010, 12:10 PM

Originally Posted by Jay from Philly

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Shana Kemp
(215)416-3091
skemp@philasd.org

November 28, 2010

SCHOOL DISTRICT RESPONSE TO PROCUREMENT ARTICLE

Both the School Reform Commission and the Superintendent have emphasized that qualified Minority and Women Businesses (MWBE) should have ample opportunity to provide services to the school district. IBS, one such MWBE, is certified by the city and the company has a wealth of experience. They are qualified to do the work that we tasked them to do. They have been recognized for their work in the Delaware Valley and we are happy to have the opportunity to work with their team of experts.[/I]

1. Is Shana any relation to convicted felon Corey Kemp? Just out of curiosity.
2. Even if you buy the minority business BS, is IBS the only MWBE in the city that can perform these tasks, thus necessitating a no-bid process?
3. Exactly WHAT is IBS "certified" by the city to do? This is probably NOT the same activity/qualification that SDT (original firm selected for the job) was "certified" by the State to do?
4. Exactly "by whom" and "for what" has IBS been "recognized"?

This is the most flimsy letter that I have ever seen. Having had to write some of these types of letters myself in past jobs, I can spot vague and diversionary language like this a mile away.

Looks like we have the Carl Greene follies, Act II here. This may be the smoking gun we need to get rid of Ackerman, like the foreclosure notice led to getting rid of Greene. It amazes me how these officials think they can get away with this crap.

**Hospitalitygirl** · 12-02-2010, 01:39 PM

Ackerman acknowledges directing surveillance work to minority firm IBS | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/02/2010

And "Nero fiddles while Rome burns..."

Where is the outrage over this?

Speaking publicly for the first time about emergency, no-bid contracts at dangerous city schools, School Superintendent Arlene C. Ackerman acknowledged that she personally directed her staff to guarantee a small minority firm a share of $700,000 in security work at South Philadelphia High School.

That contract with IBS Communications Inc. - for $12,890 to produce schematic drawings - ended up costing the district more than 12 times the estimate from the company that installed the cameras at the school.

Ackerman recalled in an interview Tuesday evening that she instructed her staff at the outset of the project last December to "make sure there are minority contractors involved." When she learned that the project, executed over a weekend, was done without any minority companies, she said, she handed an IBS business card to her staff and told them to "find some work" for IBS.

"I knew IBS was doing work for the city," Ackerman said, adding that if she had had three business cards for minority firms, she would have given all three to her aides.

More recently, IBS received a $7.5 million, no-bid emergency contract to install surveillance cameras and command control centers at 19 other Philadelphia schools classified as "persistently dangerous" after another company had already begun work on the project.

Ackerman said the work given to IBS demonstrated that she was steadfastly committed to guaranteeing that companies owned by minorities and women received a significant share of district work.

"We're trying to break a culture that is hurtful in many ways," Ackerman declared. Too many contractors with years of experience working in city schools feel automatically entitled to district business, she said.

"Change is hard," she said. "People have benefited from this system, and it's not fair, and it's not equitable. People are going to be mad at me and the SRC," she said, referring to the School Reform Commission. "There are the 'haves' and the 'have-nots.' "

Ackerman and her deputy Leroy B. Nunery II emphasized that IBS had done exemplary work for the district so far. "We know we have a good company here," said Nunery, one of several senior aides who joined Ackerman in the interview Tuesday at school headquarters at 440 N. Broad St. "This is a demonstration project for them."

Nunery said he - not Ackerman - had made the decision two months ago to award the $7.5 million contract to IBS.

Sources with extensive knowledge of district operations said in interviews with The Inquirer that Ackerman personally had ordered her subordinates to remove a contractor - Security & Data Technologies Inc. (SDT) of Newtown Township, which already had begun working on the project, and give the work to IBS.

When Nunery was asked about who had made the decision, he at first declined to answer, adding that he was not "trying to be combative."

Was the decision made by the school district's chief procurement officer? Nunery was asked. "No," he replied.

Asked whether he thought taxpayers had a right to know who was making decisions about how to spend $7.5 million in public money, he replied: "You can say I made the decision."

When asked to clarify his response, Nunery said: "I made the decision."

This was the third time in the last week that district officials have offered explanations and amplifications about the two awards to IBS:

Last week, Shana Kemp, a district spokeswoman, said Ackerman had not played any role in selecting IBS for the $7.5 million contract. Kemp said John L. Byars, executive director of procurement services, had approved it.

On Monday, Nunery issued a two-page statement, saying he and Ackerman "undertook a thorough review" of a proposed resolution that would have awarded the $7.5 million contract to SDT, a company owned by white businessmen - a "majority" company in the parlance of the school district. As a result of that review, they decided the prime contractor on the camera project should be a minority vendor.

Ackerman said she had moved to replace SDT after discovering that a company that installed cameras at South Philadelphia High School - Tri-State Telecommunications of Bristol - was a subcontractor on the project.

She complained that Tri-State had overcharged the district and installed far more cameras than were required.

"It didn't feel right. . . . That was the end of it for me."

Ed Long Jr., vice president of Tri-State, said no one from the district had ever complained about his firm's work at South Philadelphia.

"The only thing that we heard was positive feedback," said Long, whose company is an approved women's business enterprise.

He said school police had determined the number and placement of the cameras. And he said the project had cost more than $700,000 because Ackerman had ordered it done over a weekend. As a result, Long said, crews worked round the clock to complete the project.

In contrast to Ackerman's criticism of Tri-State, sources with extensive experience in district business operations said, the superintendent at internal school district meetings had described the South Philadelphia project as a "model" - a project that would set the standard for surveillance equipment at the 19 other dangerous schools.

Instead, Ackerman told her staff to select the best minority contractor available to do the work on time and on budget, and IBS ended up with the job.

Asked whether she knew Darryl Boozer, IBS's chief executive and owner, Ackerman replied that she knew him "slightly," describing their relationship as "casual, professional."

She said she had been given an IBS card at a function but did not recall when or where. District spokeswoman Jamilah Fraser said that wherever she goes, Ackerman is given cards. She saves them all and remembered the IBS card when staff members told her they did not know minority firms that installed security cameras.

Ackerman said she had pushed the project to enhance security at the 19 schools - among them Frankford, Olney, and Simon Gratz High Schools - after learning the results of a school-safety audit by the state Department of Education.

Had she ignored the safety issue or taken the time to seek bids, "if something had happened, we would have been in the papers for failing to act," she said.

Michael Davis, the district's chief general counsel, has begun an internal investigation of the decision-making process that led to the original staff recommendation to award SDT the contract.

Ackerman said she had been perturbed when she learned staff had drafted a walk-on resolution for the Sept. 22 SRC meeting to award a contract to install the surveillance systems. The SRC, she said, had made it clear that such resolutions, which are added after the regular meeting agenda has been drafted, give commissioners little time to review documents and should rarely be used.
...

So...IBS is awarded one contract, according to the way this story is laid out, and went over budget by TWELVE TIMES the amount!

They're awarded another contract--in fact it was taken away from another contractor, who had a sub-contractor that was certified woman-owned business (so much for her commitment to women-owned businesses.)

And it's wonderful for Ackerman that she always has an underling ready to throw him- or herself under a bus for the Queen.

Nice going.

How can I get this job?

**Cya** · 12-02-2010, 01:53 PM

Originally Posted by Eames

1. Is Shana any relation to convicted felon Corey Kemp? GOOD QUESTION!
This is the most flimsy letter that I have ever seen. Having had to write some of these types of letters myself in past jobs, I can spot vague and diversionary language like this a mile away.

Looks like we have the Carl Greene follies, Act II here. This may be the smoking gun we need to get rid of Ackerman, like the foreclosure notice led to getting rid of Greene. .

This is the part I find very interesting.
What is the School District's reason for pulling Tri-State off their simple remaining task of "as-builts" which would have cost $1,000 and giving this job to IBS-and paying them $12,000 more? Is there any reason this would be done in a normal business/contract situation?
It seems like Tri-State did the project the School District needed in a timely manner as expected, and then when they're 99% done, they're pulled out? Told to hand over their drawings from the project to another company, IBS?
What, if anything, did IBS do with the "as-builts" that Tri-State wouldn't have done that warrented a$12,000 higher payment?

It was the second time in the last year the superintendent had steered work to the Mount Airy company. On the earlier occasion, the district ended up paying 12 times more than the offering price of another contractor.
In December, after other contractors had completed a weekend overhaul of the security systems at beleaguered South Philadelphia High School, Ackerman directed that IBS receive a share of the work, sources said.

That project, completed under deadline duress between Friday night and early Monday, cost $709,207 and included installing new cameras, outfitting an air-conditioned command control center, refurbishing bathrooms, replacing lights, and repainting parts of the school. The companies performing the work were on approved emergency lists.

Because Tri-State Telecommunications of Bristol had finished installing the cameras, the sources said, the only work remaining was for IBS to provide schematic drawings - called "as builts" - for the district. The sources said Tri-State had expected to handle the drawings, as is normally the practice, and offered to do so for $1,000.

Instead, sources said, a man identifying himself as an IBS employee appeared at South Philadelphia High and asked Tri-State vice president Ed Long Jr. to hand over his drawings for the project. Unfamiliar with IBS, Long declined and called officials in the district's information technology department, who said they would investigate.

Those officials, sources said, subsequently instructed Tri-State to defer to IBS, which was paid $12,980.

**Cya** · 12-02-2010, 02:09 PM

So, are we to believe that Ackerman just happened to have a business card for IBS handy--and said, "Here, try these guys.?"
Were any other "minority" businesses called to ask for bids, I wonder?

So, IBS now has a cushy 7.5 million dollar contract with the school district. Wasn't this bid on either?

If it comes down to hiring a "minority" business or a "majority" business, the only color that should matter is GREEN! The color of OUR money!

You don't get to overbid by 12x the amount and get the job simply because you are considered a "minority business". Not when it comes to taxpayer money. No way!

Instead, Ackerman told her staff to select the best minority contractor available to do the work on time and on budget, and IBS ended up with the job.

**Hospitalitygirl** · 12-02-2010, 02:11 PM

Originally Posted by Cya

So, are we to believe that Ackerman just happened to have a business card for IBS handy--and said, "Here, try these guys.?"
Were any other "minority" businesses called to ask for bids, I wonder?

So, IBS now has a cushy 7.5 million dollar contract with the school district. Wasn't this bid on either?

As the article says...No Bid.

**Cya** · 12-02-2010, 02:15 PM

Originally Posted by Hospitalitygirl

As the article says...No Bid.

Yeah, I know. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around that. Gimme a sec.....

So, IBS didn't bid. They just said, "Here's what we're going to charge you to do this job." And the School District says, "Ok. That sounds reasonable. Here's the contract."

No 2nd quote? For cryin out loud- I get at least 2 prices when I shop for a vacuum!!

**Hospitalitygirl** · 12-02-2010, 02:21 PM

Originally Posted by Cya

Yeah, I know. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around that. Gimme a sec.....

So people bitch and moan about whatever perceived slights they may have regarding villages...but this goes on unanswered.

Where is the outrage over this?

**OldMaestro** · 12-02-2010, 02:23 PM

Originally Posted by Hospitalitygirl

Ackerman acknowledges directing surveillance work to minority firm IBS | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/02/2010

And "Nero fiddles while Rome burns..."

Where is the outrage over this?

Yeah. You would think that the Brady puppets of Republican City Committee and the only 3 elected republicans in council would be denouncing this.

**Cya** · 12-02-2010, 02:24 PM

If I were another "minority" owned business in this electronics/security field, I'd be good and angry that my company wasn't offered a chance to bid on this project.

Ackerman said she had pushed the project to enhance security at the 19 schools - among them Frankford, Olney, and Simon Gratz High Schools - after learning the results of a school-safety audit by the state Department of Education.

Had she ignored the safety issue or taken the time to seek bids, "if something had happened, we would have been in the papers for failing to act," she said.

Seriously? This is her justification?
We can't take time to bid out this security project and possibly save millions of taxpayer dollars because we have to hurry up and get all these cameras in place before somebody gets stabbed, or jumped or shot.

That's laughable. This happens everyday in these "persistently dangerous" schools.
What's another couple of weeks to save taxpayers thousands, (millions?).
Answer: Too much trouble.

Thanks Arelene Ackerman! Thanks, School District of Philadelphia, and every elected official that's keeping their mouth shut right now.

**Bulworth67** · 12-02-2010, 03:07 PM

Here's a guarantee-the original company that began installing the cameras and lost the contract to IBS has already talked to lawyers-who are drafting a civil rights lawsuit. I anticipate the filing of the Complaint in federal district court within about 1 or 2 weeks. I would like to be the lawyer on that one.

**Bulworth67** · 12-02-2010, 03:15 PM

Originally Posted by OldMaestro

Yeah. You would think that the Brady puppets of Republican City Committee and the only 3 elected republicans in council would be denouncing this.

Everything is Rep v Dems eh? The first Pol to complain about it was a Dem.

McGeehan calls for probe of Philadelphia School District contract award | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/02/2010

Sometimes facts don't fit your view of the world.

**Hospitalitygirl** · 12-02-2010, 03:16 PM

Originally Posted by Bulworth67

Here's a guarantee-the original company that began installing the cameras and lost the contract to IBS has already talked to lawyers-who are drafting a civil rights lawsuit. I anticipate the filing of the Complaint in federal district court within about 1 or 2 weeks. I would like to be the lawyer on that one.

You know, it's all well and good that Ackerman wants to help out minority owned businesses and "correct the hurt", but she can do it on her dime!

When there are significant cost overruns, it does more harm than good to the notion of hiring minority owned businesses--it keeps the image of being just not ready for prime time fully in place.

Further, SHOULDN'T THAT MONEY BE USED FOR BOOKS FOR STUDENTS??????

And yes, you are most correct--the original company(ies) will sue. And we'll be on the hook for more dough.

Galling.

**Hospitalitygirl** · 12-02-2010, 03:18 PM

Originally Posted by Bulworth67

Everything is Rep v Dems eh? The first Pol to complain about it was a Dem.

McGeehan calls for probe of Philadelphia School District contract award | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/02/2010

Sometimes facts don't fit your view of the world.

Bul--he said you would think they would criticize this, but apparently since they're too busy with their fat piggy hands out reaching for the crumbs--they won't make a damned peep!

**OldMaestro** · 12-02-2010, 03:22 PM

Originally Posted by Bulworth67

Everything is Rep v Dems eh? The first Pol to complain about it was a Dem.

McGeehan calls for probe of Philadelphia School District contract award | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/02/2010

Sometimes facts don't fit your view of the world.

You're an idiot.

Originally Posted by Hospitalitygirl

Bul--he said you would think they would criticize this, but apparently since they're too busy with their fat piggy hands out reaching for the crumbs--they won't make a damned peep!

Thank you. This is exactly what I meant.

**registereduser** · 12-02-2010, 04:42 PM

what is even more sick is that tri state prob. had the as-builts about complete if they were 99% done the job. these drawings are generally done along with the installation of the work. install section A, if it differs from contract drawings annotate the originals.
white folks are done in this town. millions in our dollars to police the animals who make it necessary to have security cameras in the first place.

lets see. instead of recognizing that witch makes the trouble and doing something pro active to PREVENT it, we'll just catch them causing the problems that make it near impossible for a decent kid to get an education with our cameras and then blame it on poverty, racism and oppression and let them off easy. Brilliant.

would it be racist to vote for the white guy in the next mayoral election, or would it just make good common sense?