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Marietta Daily Journal
July 15, 2005
COBB DA, N.Y. AUDITING FIRM TO INVESTIGATE SELECTION OF APPLE
MARIETTA, GA - The Cobb school board unanimously voted after a marathon six-hour meeting in executive session Thursday to call for two external investigations into the recommendation by Superintendent Joe Redden to award Apple Computer the bid for his controversial $100.8 million laptop program.
In a public vote following the executive session, the board voted 7-0 to recommend that Cobb District Attorney Pat Head conduct a grand jury criminal investigation into the Apple bid after allegations during a Cobb Superior Court hearing on a lawsuit against the school board last Friday strongly suggested that Apple came from third to first in the final bid evaluation when a Redden-led committee "changed (bid) scores."
The board also unanimously voted to hire the New York-based forensic auditing firm of Kessler International to conduct what board member Lindsey Tippins calls a "procedural audit" on the procurement process of the laptop program.
Kessler is being retained by and will work strictly for the school board and not Redden and his central office staff.
Redden and Deputy Superintendent Dr. Don Beers, who normally attends executive sessions, attended Thursday's six-hour session only briefly. Redden is said to have been informed of the two-pronged investigation by board Chairwoman Kathie Johnstone and school board attorney Glenn Brock after the executive session and just before the board reconvened late in the afternoon after the marathon session.
Tippins, who is familiar with the firm, said it has a reputation of being "very thorough."
Brock, of the Marietta firm Brock Clay, recommended Kessler, according to board Vice Chairwoman Dr. Teresa Plenge.
On its Web site, Kessler says it "looks behind the numbers" and produces the best results in its field with "a rare combination of financial expertise, investigation skills and street-wise knowledge that only one firm can deliver."
Asked when DA Head will begin his investigation, board members Dr. Plenge, Betty Gray and Tippins said that it's "up to him." Kessler, the Marietta Daily Journal has learned, will dispatch a two-person team to Marietta "next week,' according to Ms. Gray, and likely will finish its report in two to three weeks for a charge of $30,000 to $50,000 to the school board.
When the MDJ reported earlier this week that Brock would recommend an external investigation to the school board, Head said that if asked to investigate he would "do so quickly."
If his preliminary investigation finds merit, Head will ask the nine Cobb Superior Court judges to empanel a 23-member special grand jury.
Tippins said the Kessler audit will examine the proposals of Apple, IBM and Dell to determine how Redden and his staff came to select and determine how the administration came to select Apple as the winner after the third and final evaluation committee review of the RFPs (Request for Proposal).
Kessler reportedly will retrace the procedural steps by all three evaluation committees after allegations during last Friday's court hearing that the low bidder did not get the contract. Kessler's investigation likely will focus on determining if the best bid - the best value, dollar for dollar - earned the Cobb board's vote.
"We're looking at the whole RFP procedure of the laptop program from start to finish," Tippins said.
"If this will clear up the controversy and assure confidence in the procurement process, I think it's money well spent," Tippins said of Kessler's fee.
Ms. Gray said the firm would look at "the design of the RFP, the return of the RFP and the review of the RFP."
Board member Laura Searcy said Head will determine if any laws have been broken.
"Has criminal activity occurred? There's an allegation that's been made and it's going to be investigated," she said. "The DA is an important piece, but their focus is criminal behavior. Our focus is broader. As the governing board of this school district, we have policies that state that the business of the school district will be conducted ethically, using good business practice, and legally."
Ms. Searcy pointed to one of the Carver governance policies the board adopted, titled 2.0 Global Executive Constraint.
The policy reads: "The Superintendent will not cause or allow any practice, activity, decision, or organizational circumstances which is either unlawful, imprudent or in violation or commonly accepted business and professional ethics and practices."
The "unlawful" part of the policy will be investigated by Head. The rest will be investigated by Kessler, she said.
"This will cover the waterfront," Tippins said.
After meeting behind closed doors from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a break for lunch, board chair Johnstone read the following letter to Pat Head:
"We are concerned with recent testimony which publicly called into question the integrity of the procurement process that led to the award of a contract for Phase One of the Power to Learn laptop computer initiative.
"The Cobb County Board of Education believes the public is best served when the operations of the Cobb County School District are open and available to all. In this spirit we would welcome any inquiry into this process.
"In order to bring closure to any allegations related to the incident, we request that you investigate the procurement process in the Power to Learn initiative."
The letter to Head was signed by all board members.
Last Friday the school board and Redden were taken to Cobb Superior Court by former County Commissioner Butch Thompson, who retained former Gov. Roy Barnes to stop the board from issuing laptops to students, which they claim were not specified in the 2003 SPLOST vote that now is paying for the laptop program.
During the hearing, witness Dr. Mindy DiSalvo, director of special projects for DeKalb County Schools and a member of Cobb's 13-member Phase Two laptop evaluation committee, testified that the committee scored the companies with Dell first and Apple last. Once the scores went to the final six-member evaluation committee which Redden created - and which included Redden, Beers and three members of the central office staff, Donna Oliver, Kim Quinn and Alisa Morningstar. The scores then allegedly changed, Ms. DiSalvo said, and Apple vaulted from what a school board member described as a distant third to first.
Dr. DiSalvo testified that Ms. Oliver told her during the evaluations: "We all know how this has to turn out." She said under oath that some of the scores were changed during Phase III and "those who changed the scores were employees."
Ms. Johnstone and four other school board members issued a press release last Saturday saying they would ask Brock to "look into" the allegations and seek Brock's advice.
"We feel it is very important to, as we said in the letter, to be completely open and transparent in everything we do," Ms. Johnstone said after reading the letter.
"I, we, have always tried to do that. There has been a great distraction with all that has been going on with Power to Learn and therefore we want to make sure that every area is covered in this investigation," she said.
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