Audit Calls College Contract Legal Despite Lack of Bids

The Los Angeles Community College District has released a report saying that, despite some problems, a controversial $12.5-million energy contract awarded without public bidding is in compliance with the law.

According to the district’s auditors, Price Waterhouse Coopers LLP, the district’s contract with Viron Energy Services blurred the lines between work that is exempt from public bidding rules and work that is not. But auditors also said no regulations were broken.

They recommended that in the future, the district solicit competitive proposals before awarding any new such contracts.

“The good news about [the Viron project] is that it was done on time, it was done on budget, and most people involved with it think it is of high quality,” said Marshall Drummond, the district’s chancellor. “The problems with this project were caused by our own internal misunderstandings.”

Drummond was appointed after the Viron contract was awarded. The Viron contract was designed under a provision in state law allowing exemptions to competitive bidding rules for energy conservation work that was later criticized as unnecessarily broad. State and federal officials have yet to review the contract and will make independent findings.