By Joe Eskenazi : 48hills – excerpt
PUC allowed contractors to renege on pledged community donations — pledges that had played a role in their winning of contracts
An audit released today by the Controller’s office reveals that the PUC’s Community Benefits Program is both deeply problematic and deeply mismanaged. In multiple contracts reviewed during the audit, the PUC allowed contractors to fail to completely deliver their promised — and binding —commitments to donate funds to the communities affected by PUC projects.
This is doubly disturbing, as the strength of a bidder’s pledged commitment to the community is a major factor in deciding who wins a lucrative contract from the PUC. Today’s audit revealed at least one situation in which the strength of a contractor’s commitment to fund the community allowed it to beat out a competitor that submitted a less generous offer — but the winning contractor subsequently reneged on the commitment that earned it the job.
“By awarding contracts based, in part, on Social Impact Partnership commitments and allowing contractors to default on those commitments, SFPUC increases the risk that it will award contracts to contractors that ultimately will not deliver the greatest value to the City or its residents,” sums up the audit…(more)
I can think of a few questions for the new director of the SFPUC and the City Attorney. Like, what does it take for a contractor to be put on a black list and what does it take to fire an incompetent and or crooked city employee?