Yossi Govrin
Executive Director Maxima Art Initiative
433 Ocean Ave, #D
Santa Monica, CA 90402
Maximaartinitiative.com
[email protected]
(310) 666-2056
Attn:David White, City Manager
City of Santa Monica
1685 Main St.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
[email protected]
CC: [email protected], [email protected] 10-22-2024
Re: Protest of Contract Award of Solicitation #413
Dear David White,
I am writing to formally protest the award of solicitation 413 “Santa Monica Airport Artist Studios:
Programming & Artist Relations Management” to Community Arts Resources (CARS), which I understand has been selected as the apparent awardee. Maxima Art Initiative is submitting its timely protest, namely within seven days of the notice of pending award issued 10/16/2024.
Conflict Of Interest
Upon reviewing the details of CARS’ proposal, I have discovered that an employee of the City of Santa Monica’s Cultural Affairs Department (City) is listed as the foremost individual of CARS’s project team.
This presents a clear conflict of interest, which compromises the fairness and integrity of the selection process. Please note that I was not allowed to copy any portion of CARS’ proposal, while reviewing it at the City, hence I was not able to include documentation herein, nonetheless all of the information I provide below is easily referenceable by the City.
In its August 12th 2024 proposal, CARS lists Mr. Ryder Davis as its “On-Site Coordinator” for this contract, CARS further specifies, in its Cost Proposal section, that Mr. Ryder’s contribution to the contract is a whopping 87.50%, of the entire contract. Hence, Mr. Ryder’s involvement is fundamental to CARS’ proposal. In the same section, CARS further details that Mr. Ryder is guaranteed an annual salary of at least $101, 920, out of the total annual budgeted expenditure by the City of $250,000 for this contract . Extrapolated over the five year expected duration of this contract, this yields $509,600 directly to Mr. Ryder’s pocket.
Under normal circumstances, Mr. Ryder’s contribution to the contract and his proposed salary would not be of issue; however Mr. Ryder was at the time of proposal submittal, and is currently employed by the City of Sana Monica’s Cultural Affairs Department under the title of Staff Assistant III. CARS in its proposal, clearly specifies its knowledge of Mr. Ryder’s employment by the City, as is detailed in Mr.
Ryder’s profile within the proposal’s Key Personnel section. Namely CARS’ proposal brazenly states “Ryder Davis is a Staff Assistant for the Cultural Affairs Department of the City of Santa Monica, working as an on-site coordinator at the Airport Art Studios in Santa Monica.” The aforementioned conflict of interest is exponentially greater by the fact that it is the Cultural Affairs Department itself that is the one that evaluated the proposals and made the recommendation for award. So in fact it is the Department’s personnel that have chosen to award this contract to one of their own colleagues, allowing for a windfall of cash for both CARS and Mr. Ryder, paid for by the City of Santa Monica.
It is my understanding that any relationship between a contractor and City staff involved in the procurement or project oversight process can unduly influence decision-making, undermine public trust, and violate ethical guidelines outlined by the City of Santa Monica. Including a city employee in a private contractor's proposal raises concerns about bias, preferential treatment, and potential violations of California Government Code Section 1090, which strictly prohibits public officials from having a financial interest in contracts they make in their official capacities.
This situation not only affects the transparency of the process but also risks undermining the City’s efforts to promote ethical conduct in its public contracting procedures. It is critical that all contracts awarded by the City maintain the highest standards of fairness, objectivity, and integrity.
I respectfully request that you investigate this matter and take appropriate action to ensure that the procurement process remains impartial and free of any conflicts of interest. If the conflict is confirmed, I urge the City to disqualify the current awardee and move onto the next highest ranked proposal.
Experience
Upon review of CARS’ proposal, CARS may be successful in developing and promoting one time festivals in conjunction with much larger entities, however CARS has provided no details of experience for neither itself nor its key employees in providing the services expected under this contract. It is unclear how CARS was granted high scores for both the Project Team and the Experience evaluation criteria, as CARS nor its personnel have listed any experience with running a facility such as the Airport Art Center on an ongoing basis. Evaluation of CARS’ proposal needs to be reviewed for accuracy, as the points allocated CARS for its experience and project team are inconsistent with the evaluation criteria specified in the solicitation.
Budget
The City’s stated budget for this contacts is $250,000 per year, however CARS in its Cost Proposal present a budget of $289,720 for the first year, an overage of $39,720 from the City’s budget. CARS proposes to close this gap by providing paid services such as “Figure Drawing Classes” and other unsubstantiated services. In its cost proposal for the first year, CARS is already putting the City in a shortfall position, yet CARS received the highest number if points under the Cost evaluation criteria. It should be noted that Maxima Art Initiative’s Cost Proposal provided cost proposal that stayed within the City’s $250,000 budget, and provided a greater number of proven services at the airport facility within this budget. Yet Maxima Art Initiative received a much lower scoring for the Cost evaluation criteria.
Evaluation of CARS’ Cost Proposal needs to be reviewed, as the points allocated CARS for its proposed budget are inconsistent with the City’s stated budget for this contract, and evaluation criteria specified in the solicitation.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to your prompt response and to learning what steps will be taken to address this serious issue.
Sincerely,
Yossi Govrin
Director Maxima Art Initiative