Public Contracts (Office Of The City Manager)
| Multi Request | Public Contracts |
| Submitted | July 11, 2018 |
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Communications
From: Dan Rubins
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
To Whom It May Concern:
I. Background Information
Contract administration is frequently a source of concerning behavior in the public sector. For example:
- In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, a company with only two employees (Whitefish Energy) was hired hired by PREPA, Puerto Rico's public utility company, to restore power to the island at a cost of $300M. The contract had audit-proofing clauses and left little recourse for PREPA due to nonperformance. After 8 months, Puerto Rico did not have power fully restored and now Congressional and FBI investigations are pending.
- During an internal audit of the City of San Diego's contracting practices, the contract with office products supplier Staples was found to exceed the City Council's approved $2M annual threshold by a full $1M. Auditors found found insufficient financial controls and produced a further 60 pages of recommendations.
- The US Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) found sustained exceptions for incurred costs audits 28.6% of the time in its 2017 Report to Congress.
- From 2010 to 2013, a Maryland Transit Authority employee allegedly used poor contracting oversight to siphon $6.3M from the state coffers.
- The City of Vallejo, CA was recently the victim of an alleged contracting kickback scheme run by the city's landscape maintenance manager, only uncovered in an FBI investigation. The kickback scheme occurred only a few years after the city was in Chapter 9 bankruptcy because of ballooning contractual obligations.
- In recent years, officials in the southern California cities of Bell, Irwindale, La Puente, Monterey Park, Pico Rivera, Temple City, and Vernon have been brought up on various public corruption charges.
While the vast majority of public contracting is done with integrity, bad actors and a lack of public knowledge have a disproportionate effect on the fiscal wellbeing and public trust of every level of government.
II. Requested Records
Pursuant to the { law }, I hereby request the following records:
1. Any and all executed contracts, memorandums of understanding (MOUs), and other equivalent agreements that are currently active, or were active within the last two years, other than standard employee agreements. Please provide a copy of the executed document as well as any addenda, amendments, attachments, exhibits, materials, and schedules.
2. Any and all contract template documents, for example, employee agreements, vendor agreements, master services agreements, nondisclosure agreements, or interagency cooperation contracts.
3. General policies and procedures for contract administration, including training materials and records used to instruct members of your agency in contract administration.
4. Any available process narratives, audit reports, or findings regarding contract administration covering the last two years.
I am happy to discuss any issues or suggestions to make fulfillment more manageable for your office.
III. Fees
If there are any fees for searching or copying these records, please inform me in advance of fulfilling the request.
I would also like to request a waiver of all fees in that the disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest and will contribute significantly to the public's understanding of how governments manage public money and the obligations to which they are entrusted.
Neither I, nor my company (Legal Robot), has any commercial interest in obtaining the requested information. Rather, we intend to use software to analyze and disseminate the requested information free of charge so that the public may identify patterns of bad behavior that, when eliminated, will benefit governments and the public alike.
We plan to enrich and cross-link the information we receive from multiple jurisdictions, and provide an exploratory interface for the public on the internet, for free. Because we consider this work to be Data Journalism, and we further expect to provide our analysis to other media organizations for additional print and online publication, I ask to be categorized as a representative of the news media. Upon request, I am happy to provide our analysis and any articles we write based on our analysis in advance of publication, though I cannot speak for other media outlets.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Dan Rubins
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter.
I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Dan Rubins
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following California Public Records Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on . Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Office Of The City Manager
Dear Mr. Rubins,
In response to your attached letter dated July 27, 2018, received today, please be advised that we did not receive a Request for Records from you dated July 11, 2018. We did, however, receive a request from you on July 24, 2018, which was dated July 19, 2018.
We are working on providing our response to your July 19, 2018 letter within the timeframe required by the statute.
Please let me know if you need anything further.
Thank you,
[Rocklin_Logo_email-100px]
Corinne Bow | Executive Assistant to the City Manager/Paralegal
Office of the City Manager & City Attorney| City of Rocklin
3970 Rocklin Road | Rocklin, CA 95677
Corinne.Bow@rocklin.ca.us<mailto:Corinne.Bow@rocklin.ca.us> | (916) 625-5583 | www.rocklin.ca.us<http://www.rocklin.ca.us/>
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From: Office Of The City Manager
Good afternoon Mr. Rubin,
Attached please find the City of Rocklin's response to your request for records dated July 19, 2018, received by the City on July 24, 2018.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.
Sincerely,
[Rocklin_Logo_email-100px]
Corinne Bow | Executive Assistant to the City Manager/Paralegal
Office of the City Manager & City Attorney| City of Rocklin
3970 Rocklin Road | Rocklin, CA 95677
Corinne.Bow@rocklin.ca.us<mailto:Corinne.Bow@rocklin.ca.us> | (916) 625-5583 | www.rocklin.ca.us<http://www.rocklin.ca.us/>
From: Dan Rubins
Thank you for your quick response and I apologize for the date mix up. I do not want to disrupt regular business so I understand if delivering these documents takes some time.
We are starting to review the documents you provided as well as the larger agreements available through the City's SIRE website; we are very pleased with the transparency this offers to the public. I have attached the list of requested agreements <$50k (available in Excel format here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-1Xe_PU43e_zeDZNdlmMYSm1gwRSAD-3/view?usp=sharing, highlighted in green or filterable in column F). Since we are reviewing legal language, feel free to exclude plans, drawings, price lists or other attachments without legal terms, if that helps narrow the request.
I will send a check today for $5 for the flash drive to the City of Rocklin, Office of the City Manager at the address in your letter, with reference to this request.
Please feel free to email or call (415) 894-0240 if you have questions or need any clarification.
Thanks,
Dan Rubins
From: Office Of The City Manager
Dear Mr. Rubins,
Further to our initial response, we have determined that due to the broad nature of your request it will likely take the City several months to assemble all responsive documents. For example, the City's Parks & Recreation department enters into a high volume of short term, low cost, agreements for facility use (e.g., renting park or event space). To expedite the response process, we suggest narrowing the scope to agreements, contracts, MOU's, etc., involving amounts of more than $5,000 and with a term of at least one month.
Please confirm whether you agree to narrow the scope of your request to contracts in excess of $5,000 and with a term of at least one month.
Thank you,
[Rocklin_Logo_email-100px]
Corinne Bow | Executive Assistant to the City Manager/Paralegal
Office of the City Manager & City Attorney| City of Rocklin
3970 Rocklin Road | Rocklin, CA 95677
Corinne.Bow@rocklin.ca.us<mailto:Corinne.Bow@rocklin.ca.us> | (916) 625-5583 | www.rocklin.ca.us<http://www.rocklin.ca.us/>
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From: Office Of The City Manager
Good afternoon Mr. Rubin,
I have compiled everything you've requested. While you provided a check for $5.00 so that I can provide documents on a Flash Drive, I'm concerned that everything won't fit. If you're OK with it, I will return the check to you and upload the documents directly instead.
Please confirm this is OK with you and I will upload everything today or tomorrow.
Thank you,
[Rocklin_Logo_email-100px]
Corinne Bow | Executive Assistant to the City Manager/Paralegal
Office of the City Manager & City Attorney| City of Rocklin
3970 Rocklin Road | Rocklin, CA 95677
Corinne.Bow@rocklin.ca.us<mailto:Corinne.Bow@rocklin.ca.us> | (916) 625-5583 | www.rocklin.ca.us<http://www.rocklin.ca.us/>
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From: Dan Rubins
I apologize for my delayed response. We're happy to receive the documents in whatever form you would like: upload, Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, etc. I understand this may be too late, so please let me know if you would like me to submit a new request.
Thanks,
Dan Rubins
From: Office Of The City Manager
Good morning Dan,
I can easily upload what I already collected. The link in your original request doesn't seem to be working, so I will upload everything to a new FTP site that we use to provide records. I can only provide 20 documents per link, so please expect several emails.
Thank you,
[RocklinLogo-email-signature]
Corinne Bow | Executive Assistant to the City Manager/Paralegal
Office of the City Manager & City Attorney| City of Rocklin
3970 Rocklin Road | Rocklin, CA 95677
Corinne.Bow@rocklin.ca.us<mailto:Corinne.Bow@rocklin.ca.us> | (916) 625-5583 | www.rocklin.ca.us<http://www.rocklin.ca.us/>
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This communication and any accompanying document(s) may contain confidential and/or privileged information which is intended for the sole use of the addressee. Recipients should not file copies of this e-mail with publicly accessible records. If you receive this transmission in error, you are advised that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or the taking of any action in reliance upon the communication is strictly prohibited. Moreover, any such inadvertent disclosure shall not compromise or waive the attorney-client privilege as to this communication or otherwise. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender immediately and permanently delete the original and any copies of this email and any attachments thereto.
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From: Office Of The City Manager
You have received access to a City of Rocklin File Share from Corinne Bow. The link to transfer your file(s) will expire on Sunday, July 28, 2019 1:39 PM.
https://ftp.rocklin.ca.us/?ShareToken=C913EBAAF8F0B8C3E054E6E3CB262E4E81F61588
Password: 3970Rocklin
Good afternoon Dan,
This is the first of several transmissions of documents via our new City of Rocklin FTP site. I can only transmit 20 documents per link. A separate cover letter will also be sent to you directly via email.
Thanks,
Corinne Bow,
Paralegal
Need help? See some troubleshooting tips at http://www.Serv-U.com/sharefiles.
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SharedFiles2014.zip
From: Office Of The City Manager
You have received access to a City of Rocklin File Share from Corinne Bow. The link to transfer your file(s) will expire on Sunday, July 28, 2019 1:55 PM.
https://ftp.rocklin.ca.us/?ShareToken=42FC886478F3758C60DAFCECC273F2316F1CEF86
Password: 3970Rocklin
Hello Dan,
Further to previous email, here are another 20 files via City FTP site.
Thank you,
Corinne Bow,
Paralegal
(916) 625-5583
Need help? See some troubleshooting tips at http://www.Serv-U.com/sharefiles.
From: Office Of The City Manager
You have received access to a City of Rocklin File Share from Corinne Bow. The link to transfer your file(s) will expire on Sunday, July 28, 2019 2:52 PM.
https://ftp.rocklin.ca.us/?ShareToken=301765C7D292C102EECC93E0A1621A46756ED069
Password: 3970Rocklin
Final Email of files through City FTP Site.
Here is a link to the MOU files requested.
Thank you,
Corinne Bow,
Paralegal
(916) 625-5583
Need help? See some troubleshooting tips at http://www.Serv-U.com/sharefiles.
From: Office Of The City Manager
Good afternoon Mr. Rubin,
Attached please find a cover letter to accompany the FTP links sent separately this afternoon. Please contact me if you have difficulty accessing any of the documents. Contracts starting with A-B were sent as separate documents. I then zipped the remaining documents in order to expedite getting everything to you. I hope it works!
Have a good weekend,
[RocklinLogo-email-signature]
Corinne Bow | Executive Assistant to the City Manager/Paralegal
Office of the City Manager & City Attorney| City of Rocklin
3970 Rocklin Road | Rocklin, CA 95677
Corinne.Bow@rocklin.ca.us<mailto:Corinne.Bow@rocklin.ca.us> | (916) 625-5583 | www.rocklin.ca.us<http://www.rocklin.ca.us/>
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This communication and any accompanying document(s) may contain confidential and/or privileged information which is intended for the sole use of the addressee. Recipients should not file copies of this e-mail with publicly accessible records. If you receive this transmission in error, you are advised that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or the taking of any action in reliance upon the communication is strictly prohibited. Moreover, any such inadvertent disclosure shall not compromise or waive the attorney-client privilege as to this communication or otherwise. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender immediately and permanently delete the original and any copies of this email and any attachments thereto.
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