The Broward School District repeatedly mismanaged a competitive bidding process to exclude one technology vendor and later steer business toward another, the county\u2019s top watchdog has concluded.<\/p>\n
A report from the county\u2019s Office of Inspector General also alleges that one of those vendors committed possible felonies by submitting false information to get business with the school district.<\/p>\n
Superintendent Howard Hepburn told the South Florida Sun Sentinel he is taking steps to terminate the contract of the vendor identified and will pursue discipline, up to potential termination, for district employees named in the report.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t tolerate any violation of our procurement policies or procurement laws. It increases the fissure of mistrust between myself and staff, and between the (School Board) and staff as well,\u201d Hepburn said.<\/p>\n
He said \u201cwe\u2019ll take care of these issues swiftly\u201d and vowed to \u201croot this out immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 623-page report<\/a> from Inspector General Carol \u201cJodie\u201d Breece is the first investigation of the school district released since Breece entered into a contract with the school district in January 2025 to review allegations of waste, fraud and mismanagement. The inspector general\u2019s office has been reviewing county and city governments since 2010, and voters authorized the expansion to the School Board through a ballot measure in November 2024.<\/p>\n The report concluded that the actions by some district administrators, which included accusations of misleading the School Board, were problematic but didn\u2019t rise to the level of criminal wrongdoing, nor did they lead to a significant waste of taxpayer dollars.<\/p>\n Two current district employees are named in the report:\u00a0Economic Development Opportunities Compliance Officer Jennifer Andreu and Matthew Bradford, an executive director of technology operations.<\/p>\n Bradford had been appointed to serve as the interim technology chief for the district in July, but Hepburn removed him from that role in August after the district received a preliminary copy of the findings.<\/p>\n Neither Bradford nor Andreu could be reached by the Sun Sentinel, but both denied any wrongdoing in responses included in the inspector general\u2019s report.<\/p>\n \u201cOver nearly 30 years in technology leadership, including more than eight years serving Broward County Public Schools, I have consistently acted with integrity, professionalism, transparency, and dedication to the best interests of students, staff, taxpayers, and the School Board,\u201d Bradford wrote in a rebuttal to the report. \u201cAny suggestion that I intentionally provided inaccurate or misleading information is inconsistent with my professional record and my conduct in this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n Jeremy Kroll, a lawyer for Andreu, wrote that investigators failed to thoroughly interview his client. He said the inspector general\u2019s office presented a \u201cgross misrepresentation of what it purports to investigate\u201d by \u201cjumping to conclusions based only on inference, and omitting clear and convincing objective evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMs. Andreu has always been an advocate of open and fair competition throughout her entire career and is more than willing to submit to a polygraph examination to settle this issue,\u201d Kroll wrote.<\/p>\n Andreu, who also serves on the Plantation City Council, has also been under a district-related personnel investigation since January related to a botched effort<\/a> to solicit a company to oversee district construction programs, district officials have said.<\/p>\n That personnel investigation is still pending, district spokesman John Sullivan said.<\/p>\n A district vendor is accused in the inspector general\u2019s report of potential criminal behavior.<\/p>\n Brian Farrell, who is CEO of the Fort Lauderdale-based Phone and Pad Warehouse, secured a $540,625 contract with the district \u201cby submitting a forged document as part of his winning proposal and by misrepresenting his eligibility,\u201d the report said. The report alleges that Farrell changed an executed lease by doubling the square feet of a warehouse he was renting to meet eligibility requirements.<\/p>\n The inspector general\u2019s office referred the matter to the Broward State Attorney\u2019s Office on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cProsecutors will thoroughly review the investigators\u2019 findings and all relevant information available before making any decisions,\u201d Paula McMahon, a spokeswoman for the State Attorney\u2019s Office, told the Sun Sentinel.<\/p>\n Farrell referred a Sun Sentinel reporter to a response in the inspector general\u2019s report prepared by his lawyer, Sidney Calloway.<\/p>\n Calloway asked that the inspector general\u2019s use of the word \u201cforged\u201d be changed to \u201caltered.\u201d Calloway\u2019s letter noted its \u201climited purpose and scope\u201d in responding.<\/p>\n \u201cThe narrow scope of this response, and the absence of any point-by-point factual rebuttal, are not, and shall not be deemed or offered as, an admission of any fact, finding, or characterization set forth in the Preliminary Report, nor a waiver of any right,\u201d Calloway wrote.<\/p>\n In his five-page response, Calloway questioned whether certain allegations were applicable and why Farrell was being treated differently than district employees named in the report.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Report describes senior District staff who steered procurement outcomes, advanced a pretextual justification for rejecting a solicitation, and made statements to the School Board that the Report finds were contradicted by contemporaneous emails \u2013 yet none of those individuals has been referred for prosecution,\u201d Calloway wrote.<\/p>\n Breece told the Sun Sentinel that the district employees\u2019 actions didn\u2019t meet state requirements for a crime.<\/p>\n \u201cFor bid tampering by a public servant, the government would have to prove that the public servant influenced or tried to influence a solicitation through disclosure of material information when it was not public or that they tried to or did change a submitted solicitation response, documents, or results,\u201d Breece said. \u201cWe did not find probable cause for that.\u201d<\/p>\n The report focused on three solicitation efforts from September 2023 to October 2024 to buy and deploy more than $40 million worth of computers and tablets. That effort included distributing about 80,000 laptops to students a year ago to take home.<\/p>\n The district had used Lenovo as its primary computer vendor from 2013 to 2023, and the district had the option to extend that contract another year at the same prices Lenovo offered in 2019, the report said. A district procurement agent recommended this option, estimating it would cost the district $11.3 million less than soliciting new bids at post-COVID prices.<\/p>\n However, some former employees told the inspector general that some district leaders wanted to stop using Lenovo.<\/p>\n When the district first contracted with Lenovo in 2013, it bought low-end models that triggered numerous complaints<\/a> about screen size, durability and performance.<\/p>\n When the district renewed the contract with Lenovo in 2019, it started purchasing more durable models, and the complaints subsided<\/a>.<\/p>\n Still, the district\u2019s technology department opted in 2023 to seek new bids for a technology contract.<\/p>\n On Oct. 30, 2023, the district announced that HP had the lowest bids for both laptop and desktop computers and would be recommended as the primary vendor. Lenovo came in a close second and would be recommended as an alternate.<\/p>\n However, Lenovo announced on Nov. 2, 2023, that it intended to file a bid protest, or a formal challenge to the outcome of the solicitation. The company alleged that HP\u2019s proposal didn\u2019t meet certain required specifications and should be disqualified, the report said.<\/p>\n Lenovo had \u201ca viable basis to protest the planned award to HP, a basis that potentially could have directed the award to Lenovo, disfavored by some BCPS users,\u201d the inspector general report states.<\/p>\n Instead of awarding the contract to Lenovo or defending against the bid protest, the district decided to reject all bids and start over.<\/p>\n An executive summary asking the School Board to reject all bids in January 2024 stated the reason was that the solicitation had been limited to Windows devices, inadvertently omitting Chromebooks and Android-based tablets. But that was a \u201cpretext,\u201d the report stated.<\/p>\n School district employees \u201crecommended the rejection of all bids upon their realization that HP\u2019s disqualification would make Lenovo the next lowest responsive and responsible bidder. As the former procurement director put it, staff did not want to award Lenovo the contract. But they could not write that on the Executive Summary.\u201d<\/p>\n