Whistleblower Protection Act — ARTICLES

FORMER DC EMPLOYEE FILES WHISTLEBLOWER LAWSUIT AGAINST THE DISTRICT IN THE WAKE OF BID CONTRACT INVESTIGATION BY COUNCILWOMAN MARY CHEH

Former DGS Associate Director Yinka Alao details whistleblower allegations against the District and City Administrator Young in complaint filed in DC Superior Court.

Washington, DC, December 6, 2016 – Yinka Alao, the former DC Department of General Services (DGS) Associate Director for Contracting and Procurement, is fighting back against public allegations made by City Administrator Rashad Young and Mayor Muriel Bowser’s spokesman Rob Hawkins that his termination resulted from improper actions he took in the performance of his official duties. In a complaint filed yesterday, Mr. Alao details the real facts and circumstances that led to his termination – that the Mayor’s office wanted him to give special treatment in a bidding process to one of the Mayor’s campaign donors. When Mr. Alao refused to do so, he was fired.

Alao, a 10-year DC employee who previously led the “Procurement Integrity and Compliance Office” for the city’s Office of Contracting and Procurement, was abruptly placed on administrative leave on August 15, 2016 and separated from the government on August 30, 2016. This came after Mr. Alao approved the bid of Gilbane Building Co. (Gilbane), one of the nation’s largest construction firms, to redevelop the St. Elizabeth’s East Campus – the future site of the Washington Wizards Basketball practice facility. Gilbane’s approved bid was roughly $6 million and about $10 million less than the bid submitted by a major longtime donor to D.C. Mayor Muriel Browser, Fort Meyer Construction (FMC). FMC’s bid was not chosen. Despite the fact that Mr. Alao’s decision saved $10 million taxpayer dollars, he was summarily terminated after FMC apparently complained to Mayor Bowser’s administration.

Darrell Chambers, Principal Attorney at The Chambers Firm, filed the suit on behalf of Mr. Alao:

“As is clear from the complaint, several high-ranking officials at the Executive Office of the Mayor, DMPED and the City Administrator’s office applied unprecedented pressure on Mr. Alao to cancel the Buzzard Point and St. Elizabeth’s contract awards and to re-bid those contracts, in an obvious attempt to award them to Ft. Myer. This case is eerily similar to the Eric Payne matter, which resulted in a $1.7 million verdict against the District on November 22 of this year. It remains to be seen what the attorney’s fees amount to in that case, but that litigation began in 2010 so I suspect the fees are significant – possibly over $1 million. Unfortunately, instead of admitting mistakes and immediately redressing the mistakes and making whole the innocent people whose lives are turned upside-down by them, the District is content to litigate these disputes for years upon years in the hopes that a different administration with no accountability is in power when they are hit by a large jury verdict. The only people adversely affected are the victims of this cronyism and District residents who have to foot the bill.”

D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh is currently investigating the facts and circumstances surrounding Mr. Alao’s termination.

CONTRACTS APPEALS BOARD REJECTS BID PROTEST BY MAJOR BOWSER DONOR FORT MYER IN A SCATHING OPINION THAT FURTHER CLOUDS GOVERNMENT’S DECISION TO FORCE THE CONTRACTING OFFICER OUT AFTER HE RECOMMENDED AWARD TO GILBANE, NETTING TAXPAYERS A $10 MILLION SAVINGS

CAB Decision Confirms Former DGS Associate Director Yinka T. Alao Appropriately Recommended Award of The Contract To Gilbane Building Co., Which Submitted A Bid Almost $10 million Dollars Lower Than The Bid Submitted By Ft. Myer. DC CAB Opinion Casts A Further Shadow Over Perplexing Decision To Fire Mr. Alao

Washington, DC, September 26, 2016 – The DC Contracts Appeals Board has issued a decision in a bid protest submitted by Ft. Myer Construction, filed after Ft. Myer lost out on the contract to redevelop the St. Elizabeth’s East Campus – future site of the Washington Wizards Basketball practice facility. After Ft. Meyer lost out on that contract and the contract to develop the future site for DC United’s new stadium at Buzzard Point, Mr. Alao, a 10-year DC employee who previously led the “Procurement Integrity and Compliance Office” for the city’s Office of Contracting and Procurement, was abruptly placed on administrative leave on August 15, 2016 and separated from the government on August 30, 2016. Despite the fact that Mr. Alao’s decision on the St. Elizabeths contract saved $10 million taxpayer dollars, he was summarily terminated after FMC apparently complained to Mayor Bowser’s administration. Mr. Alao is represented by The Chambers Firm, LLC.

In vindicating Mr. Alao’s procurement practices and rejecting every single argument raised by Ft. Myer in the protest, the CAB noted:

“…[i]n the present case, Fort Myer seemingly argues that the District was effectively obligated to accept a proposal that was almost $10 million more expensive and essentially technically equivalent to the lower priced offeror… As we note above, that is an improper reading of the [Contracting Officer’s] discretion under the solicitation and applicable law. In summary, we find that the evaluation of proposals in this case was proper, and that the [Chief Contracting Officer] properly considered and explained its assessment of the technical and price evaluation results that were the basis of its award decision.”

Darrell Chambers, principal attorney at the Firm, supports the CAB’s decision, indicating it further strengthens Mr. Alao’s case against the government:

“I am pleased with the decision of the CAB exonerating Mr. Alao of any wrongdoing in the procurement and awarding of the St. Elizabeths East contract to Gilbane Building Company. While the decision answers some questions, others remain. For instance, why, on the St. Elizabeths project, did high-ranking government officials outside of DGS and not a part of the procurement process push for Mr. Alao to request a ‘Best and Final Offer’ (BAFO) from the bidders even though Fort Myer’s bid was so much higher than Gilbane’s bid? Also, I question whether Ft. Myer received inside information which allowed them to reallocate their costs in a way that resulted in their cost allocation score going from zero points in their initial bid to 26 points in their BAFO, the latter enabling Fort Myer to take a slim lead in points over Gilbane despite the fact that their bid remained almost $10 million dollars higher than Gilbane’s. The level of precision in cost reallocation seems to point, in my view, to some insider knowledge. How else to explain the dramatic swings in pricing at the BAFO stage without any change to the technical aspects of Fort Myer’s proposal?”

The decision calls into question the City Administrator’s statements that Mr. Alao engaged in “indefensible procurement practices” and failed to “fairly and appropriately, within guidelines, policy, and practice administer procurement solicitations in the District of Columbia.” The decision also belies Rob Hawkins’ statement that Mr. Alao sought to “undermine local and minority businesses.” According to the Administration these purported failures led to Mr. Alao’s termination. In a scathing rebuke of these false statements, the CAB specifically determined that Mr. Alao’s “award decision was reasonable and consistent with the evaluation criteria and procurement law.” This finding is inconsistent with the stated reasons for Mr. Alao’s termination, which appears to be retaliation for his failure to recommend award of the St. Elizabeths and Buzzard Point contracts to Fort Myer.