Fairfax County Public Schools awards sole source contract for $455,000 to same company new superintendent worked with previously

  • Fairfax County Public Schools - Virginia

Incidents

Issues

According to public records request submitted by Parents Defending Education, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) awarded a sole-source contract to Performance Fact, Inc., a California-based consultant. Sole source means there was no competitive bidding process or RFP. However, this contract does not appear to meet FCPS’s own criteria for sole sourced contracts as there is nothing specific or unique about the consultation and facilitation services included in the agreement. One justification given on the procurement request, as well as the procurement approval form, is that “the consultants have previously support Dr. Reid’s strategic planning vision in her former district.” Much of the information below was obtained via a public records request submitted by Parents Defending Education.

The contract is “to provide consultation and facilitation services to support the Fairfax County School Board and Superintendent in planning for a strategic plan refresh with the community,” according to a scope of work document dated 9/20/22 and written by Mutiu Fagbayi of Performance Fact, Inc.

The contract, signed on November 4, 2022 provides the following payments to Performance Fact, Inc:

This contract comes at a time when Fairfax County Public School families are raising concern over a Performance Fact, Inc. slide presentation given at a December 3, 2022 Strategic Planning Committee meeting. The slide “Equal outcomes, without exception” was shared on Twitter by Fairfax County Parents Association, and parents are now asking why this is a goal of a public school system? According to Fairfax County Parents Association, that particular slide was missing from a presentation binder distributed to meeting attendees.

Contract 4400011578 Amendment 1 seems to be a general consulting contract, with no specific qualifications for the awardee.

The documents obtained via the public record request, the administration’s request for a sole source contract and the subsequent justification of its approval do not appear to meet the requirements to grant a large contract without a competitive bidding process.