School bus camera contract under review in Montgomery Co.

Montgomery County, Maryland, schools plan to renegotiate a contract to put stop arm cameras on its school bus fleet, and the county’s inspector general wants more documentation.

Megan Davey Limarzi, who was appointed inspector general in September, noted the current contract is “slightly unusual.”..

...Glass said he was confused by some of the terms of the contract, and cited redactions in the original agreement...

 https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/11/school-bus-camera-contract-under-review-in-montgomery-county/?fbclid=IwAR0vu6_dfe7MDlhQRg9o0GzqJ9IoUooKFEh_YMgR46R6rDxhEVENKx3KfRc

MCPS Spends Operating Budget $$$ to Fly Administrator to Dallas to meet with ONE Vendor. Contract then Awarded to that vendor without RFP or Competitive Bids. Competitors out of luck. Teachers, buy your own supplies, Directors need Double Scoops at Baskin Robbins. @mcps @mocoboe @MoCoCouncilMD

Double scoop receipt, but no dinner receipt?

MCPS Expense report showing that MCPS spent $495.72 in 2015 sending the Director of Transportation, Todd Watkins to Dallas, Texas in to meet with one vendor. 

The vendor was then awarded a contract without a RFP and without any other vendor being able to bid on this $18 million+ procurement.

Is it standard practice for public school system administrators in Maryland to spend Operating Budget funds to fly to the location of vendors?  Do all vendors get this kind of attention?  

How many MCPS contracts are awarded to vendors without an RFP being issued and without competitors having any chance of bidding?  There are competitors in the exterior bus camera market, but MCPS and Montgomery County Police did not allow any of those competitors to bid on this $18 million++ procurement.  This one vendor was awarded this contract after MCPS sent an administrator to Dallas, Texas.  

Remember there is  no oversight over MCPS or the Board of Education.  The Montgomery County Inspector General will never evaluate this procurement.  The IG released a report in July that evaluated the Police departments participation in this procurement, but the report did not evaluate the actual contract or any of the contract award details because those details were done by Montgomery County Public Schools Interim Superintendent Larry Bowers.

By having MCPS contract with the exterior bus camera vendor, which was in violation of the Maryland law authorizing these cameras, the entire contract process escapes oversight or review because MCPS is not subject to the Montgomery County Inspector General's oversight and there is no required oversight at the State level.

Below is the Expense report for MCPS Director of Transportation Todd Watkins to travel to Dallas, Texas to meet with Force Multiplier Solutions contact. (Force Multiplier CEO and contacts are  now in federal prison for bribery and other crimes related to this company.) 

Did the (no bid) vendor take the MCPS Director out to dinner while he was in Dallas?  There doesn't seem to be a receipt for dinner on the first day of the trip to Dallas. 

2015 MCPS Todd Watkins Trav... by Parents' Coalition of Montg... on Scribd

2016 Montgomery County Boar... by Parents' Coalition of Montg... on Scribd

Montgomery Co. Council member repeats support for school bus camera program

...During the meeting of the council’s Education and Culture Committee, council member Craig Rice voiced his continuing support for the camera program.

Rice mentioned a recent report by the county’s inspector general that raised questions about the financial arrangement and said he’d been asked about the deal on social media.

“I don’t care if we get a single dime out of this. What I do hope is that we don’t have any children who are hit or killed as the result of somebody passing a school bus,” Rice said...

https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/09/montgomery-county-council-member-repeats-support-for-school-bus-stop-arm-camera-program/?fbclid=IwAR3VJ1PdKrrjUFJSQCWWw8B-mVbGntacwue4aOjlTIF10H0WH_k4QUEkRYo