Gazette: Montgomery County inspector general looking into consultant’s connection with turf company

Montgomery County’s inspector general is looking into how the county parks department selected an artificial turf supplier... 

http://www.gazette.net/article/20121017/NEWS/710179451/0/gazette&template=gazette

Breaking News: M-NCPPC Artificial Turf Consultant was also Field Turf Contractor

In a November 29, 2010 blog posting we released a February 27, 2009 M-NCPPC memo that showed that FieldTurf has an exclusive 5 year deal with M-NCPPC and MCPS to supply artificial turf for fields. No other artificial turf vendors can bid on these procurements.  No Requests for Proposals (RFPs) are issued.

Today, we are releasing an October 29, 2008 letter to M-NCPPC that shows who was on the consulting "team" that M-NCPPC used to select FieldTurf as the sole supplier of artificial turf.  

In the letter to M-NCPPC below, we learn that Huron Counsulting was involved in the process that selected FieldTurf as the sole supplier for M-NCPPC. (The memo below also says that FieldTurf "cost is higher than the competitors".  But hey, we're Montgomery County where money grows on trees.)  

Who is Huron Consulting?  Well, we will let a press release from FieldTurf answer that question:

Three local Maryland companies, among many others, have benefitted tremendously in terms of their growth and development as a direct correlation of FieldTurf's local presence. The first company is the Huron Consulting Company, which has been instrumental in designing economical and technologically advanced storm water management solutions for artificial grass fields. Huron's knowledge of the State and local County storm water management regulations enabled the team to provide innovative engineering alternatives that have saved Maryland schools hundreds of thousands of dollars while remaining environmentally conscious. Since working in partnership with FieldTurf, Huron's sports surfacing projects in Maryland have grown from one field in 2007 to five in 2008. This relationship with FieldTurf exemplifies how a local business working in partnership with an industry pioneer can provide exceptional service and value.

Let's recap:

• FieldTurf states that Huron Consulting's artificial turf projects with them increased from 1 in 2007 to 5 in 2008
• May 12, 2008:  Huron Consulting is hired by MCPS to work on Richard Montgomery High School artificial turf field installation.
• October 29, 2008:  Huron Consulting is named as part of the M-NCPPC consulting team that decided that FieldTurf would be sole source for M-NCPPC artificial turf fields (Huron was already working with FieldTurf on the RMHS project when this letter was written.)
• February 27, 2009:  M-NCPPC staff state that FieldTurf is to be the sole source of M-NCPPC artificial turf for 5 years.  In that memo, M-NCPPC staff also state that MCPS is using FieldTurf as their sole supplier of artificial turf.
• Huron Consulting's "hat trick" with MCPS fields - they worked on all 3 of these FieldTurf installations:  Blair High School, Richard Montgomery High School (2008) and Walter Johnson High School (2009).

10-29-08 Evaluation and Recommendation Letter