Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Guest Post: OPEN MESSAGE TO WXY ARCHITECTURE + URBAN DESIGN "We are a smart county, we can handle the truth."

From FACEBOOK:  BY  Dave Moorhead 
Posted with permission
OPEN MESSAGE TO WXY ARCHITECTURE + URBAN DESIGN
WXY Architecture + Urban Design: In the interest of trust and transparency it is imperative that you are forthcoming in your upcoming community engagement meetings about what you are specifically working on and what you are specifically delivering to MCPS for the Boundary Analysis project.

We don't care what you are "recommending" or "not recommending", what are you PRODUCING?

The MCPS Boundary Analysis RFP called for the winning consultant to "explore potential modifications to current school boundaries that comport to the four factors in Policy FAA, Educational Facilities Planning: student demographics, geography, stability of assignments over time, and facility utilization" (link is below).
You won the MCPS Boundary Analysis contract based on your very detailed and comprehensive Proposal and Work Plan that does exactly that (link is below).
Your Proposal explicitly states that you will deliver to MCPS three new Cluster Boundary options based on weighted Key Performance Indicator criteria that align to MCPS Policy FAA (with predominant weighting given to demographics), utilizing your "School Rezoning Model" and your "Algorithmic School Rezoning Tool". (WXY Proposal – Section 3.3, page 28 - TASK 3.3 CLUSTER SCENARIO ALTERNATIVES.)
Your Proposal Work Plan has you working on that task as we speak. (WXY Proposal – Section 3.3, Page 37 - 3.2 SCHEDULE OF SERVICES - "Cluster Alternatives" milestone.)
There is nothing about the Boundary Analysis RFP or your corresponding Proposal Work Plan that is just a "study" or is just "data gathering". The WXY Proposal Work Plan specifically produces three modified Cluster Boundaries, and delivers them to MCPS in the spring of 2020.
Now you are claiming in your community engagement meetings that you are only doing a "study" and just "data gathering". You state that you are not "recommending" any boundary options, trying to give the impression that you are not PRODUCING any boundary options.
This strains credibility.
If you are indeed not producing the Cluster Boundary options stated in the Boundary Analysis RFP and in your corresponding Proposal that won you the contract, then you are de-scoping a third of the Boundary Analysis project. You are removing a key deliverable that is your calling card, and that led to you winning this contract.
If the Boundary Analysis is now just a de-scoped "study" that is just "data gathering", then no responsible Contract Officer would allow you to collect your full $473,800 fee.
If the Boundary Analysis is now just a de-scoped "study" that is just "data gathering", then your level of staffing would need to be immediately reduced accordingly.
But of course, the more likely scenario is that you are indeed doing what the Boundary Analysis RFP and your Proposal Work Plan explicitly says you will do, but you are obfuscating that with evasive wording to make it look otherwise.
You are claiming that the Boundary analysis is just a "study" that is just "data gathering", and that you are not "recommending" boundary modifications . . . but you never actually say that the Boundary Analysis RFP and WXY Proposal Work Plan were officially de-scoped, to not produce and deliver the modified Cluster Boundary options they explicitly state are being done.
But why should anybody have to guess?
We are happy to be proven wrong. You can clear up any "misinformation" by immediately disclosing your current detailed contract Statement of Work, Project Plan, Milestones, Deliverables already submitted to MCPS, and Deliverables to be submitted to MCPS through the end of 2020.
We will certainly MPIA [Maryland Public Information Act] this information. The specifics will come out. There is no productive gain for anybody in obfuscating this information.
If it is revealed that the entire time you were parading around the county saying the Boundary Analysis was "just a study", you were also producing modified Cluster Boundary options and delivering them to MCPS . . . any level of trust left in you and MCPS will be completely burned to the ground.
The time for obfuscation and spin is over. The time to be transparent and forthcoming is now - starting at the upcoming December 11th Julius West MS community engagement meeting.
There is no point anymore in any kind of a smokescreen. We are a smart county, we can handle the truth.
MCPS Boundary Anaysis RFP Link:
WXY Boundary Anaysis Proposal and Work Plan:

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