by Maya McFadden The New Haven independent
The Board of Education voted to throw out a $5.8 million deal with the district’s new part-time custodial contractor after a different RFP respondent complained that New Haven’s bidding process was unfair.
The school board took that vote Monday during its latest meeting at John C. Daniels School.
The vote came after school board members and New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) Supt. Madeline Negrón spoke in private during an executive session about the contract, a $5.8 million agreement with the Ohio-based ServiceMaster Elite Janitorial Services that the Board of Education approved in June.
After the executive session ended and the public portion of Monday’s meeting resumed, Negrón explained the problem.
She said that, last month, the school district renegotiated its agreement with ServiceMaster to include a collective bargaining agreement with the SEIU 32BJ union. Negrón said that the school district “should have gone back to inquire with all of the bidders” about the union terms, which increased the underlying ServiceMaster contract by more than $400,000.
On Monday, in an attempt to stay true to the district’s procurement process, she recommended the school put the request for proposals (RFP) back out to bid to be fair to all vendors.
“We are a city and a district that prides ourself in working with unionized workers and that is why, once that was flagged, although that was a question in the RFP process, we now want to make it more explicit this time around so all of those things will be included,” she said.
In a comment provided to the Independent, NHPS spokesperson Justin Harmon added that an unnamed different RFP respondent submitted a “protest” of the district’s contract with ServiceMaster. “While we are confident that all parties acted in good faith during the original procurement process, the substance of the protest is that not all shortlisted respondents were provided the opportunity to submit a best and final offer,” he wrote. “To ensure procedural fairness and full transparency, the Board decided that a cancellation and rebid are in the public interest.”
Negrón said on Monday that the RFP will be put back out on an “expedited schedule.” The RFP will be posted July 20 and responses will be collected through Aug. 7. After scoring bidders, the district will put forth a new recommendation for a part-time custodial contractor at the school board’s Sept. 8 meeting.
Board of Education Vice President Matt Wilcox noted Monday that ServiceMaster has not yet received any funds from district, as it has not begun any work.
Also during Monday’s meeting, the school board voted to give a final approval to a $1.4 million contract with its former part-time custodial services vendor, SJ Services. The contract for summer deep cleaning and school year building prep with SJ Services will last through Sept. 30.
Board of Education member Andrea Downer reminded the school before before the vote that “SJ Services has not been good to this public school district.” The district most recently dropped SJ Services as New Haven’s part-time custodial contractor due to concerns with the company’s quality of work.
Mayor Justin Elicker, who also serves on the school board, said that the district would have been paying a vendor for summer cleaning regardless, and so the 90-day extension does not constitute spending additional funds.
The board voted 6 – 1 to approve the SJ Services interim contract, with Downer casting the sole dissenting vote.