EXCLUSIVE: Fixed Bid, Convicted Felon, Secret $3.2M Payment — Infante-Green Directs $72M Contract
GoLocalProv News Team
EXCLUSIVE: Fixed Bid, Convicted Felon, Secret $3.2M Payment — Infante-Green Directs $72M Contract
Providence schools are known nationally for failed academic performance. The takeover by state officials led by Infante-Green was designed to improve the quality of the education, improve schools, and clean up political influence.
Starting in 2022, Infante-Green began her effort to replace long-time Providence School maintenance firm Aramark — a company that had held the contract for a decade.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTInfante-Green made it clear to staff and others that she wanted Aramark out, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge.
Secret $3.2 Million Payment
As the contract was being directed to a new vendor, PPSD was paying off Aramark with a previously undisclosed multimillion-dollar payment.
As part of the scheme, Providence schools made a secret agreement with Aramark to end the contract early.
Presently, GoLocal has a pending lawsuit against Governor Dan Mckee and Infante-Green for the failure to produce hundreds of documents relating to the $70 million facilities management contract.
The secret agreement between PPSD and Aramark states in part: “The Parties agree that they will not disclose the existence and terms of this Release) as well as the underlying circumstances leading to this Release. The Parties will only disclose information regarding this Release) and then only to the extent reasonably necessary, to their attorneys, financial advisors and tax advisors. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Parties may disclose information regarding this Release to other third parties only to the extent that such disclosure is required by applicable law."
The agreement was signed by Infante-Green and other school officials and was not approved by the Providence School Board or any public body.
The payment made to Aramark was a one-time payment of $3,231,379.27.
The agreement also included a non-disparagement provision.
“The Parties acknowledge and agree that the claims released herein have been amicably resolved to their mutual satisfaction. The Parties represent and agree that they will not criticize, denigrate or otherwise disparage one another. Each of the Parties further represents and agrees that it will not engage in any conduct or take any action to cause or influence or which reasonably could be anticipated to cause or influence any person or entity to initiate litigation or· assert any other kind of claim or take any other kind of adverse action against the other Party,” states the agreement between PPSD and Aramark.”
Infante-Green’s spokesperson, Victor Morente, was sending to the media including WPRI, the Providence Journal, and GoLocal, negative articles about Aramark. The email from Morrente included links to previous articles written about Aramark from a range of sources published over the years.
But, what Infante-Green and her spokesman did not disclose was the track record of ABM, the company selected.
ABM is the same company that just over a year ago agreed to pay $140 million to thousands of its California workers to resolve a 15-year-long consolidated case over ABM's timekeeping system, which employees alleged caused them to be underpaid.
In total ABM has paid approximately a quarter of a billion dollars — the company has been cited dozens of times for wage fraud and work safety issues, according to the website Violation Tracker. In comparison, Aramark has been fined about $20 million.
A Frontline special broadcast on PBS found that ABM was one of the violators of workers' rights and placed primary Latinas in risk by allowing them to be supervised by known sex offenders.
The one-hour segment was titled “Rape on the Night Shift” and chronicled the cases of abuse of Latina workers and cited examples of sexual assaults.
ABM won the contract from PPSD over long-time contractors Aramark and UG2.
In 2022, PPSD, under the direction of Molly Hannon, the director of purchasing, sought to hire a “consultant” to assist in selecting a facilities management firm.
PPSD hired a Massachusetts company in 2022 to manage the process of selecting a firm to provide “integrated facility management.” The consultant was hired to help select the company to clean and maintain the schools — a contract that ultimately exceeded $70 million.
The consultant hired was a man named Mark Heroux, the founder and managing partner of Performance Resource Partners — the firm is located in Holbrook, Massachusetts, in Heroux's home. Heroux has worked with ABM in the past.
It is unclear why the public agency with nearly two dozen top-paid administrators needed to hire a firm to manage a public bid. A GoLocal report published in December of 2022 found that the top 18 PPSD executives earned on average more than $157,000.
As GoLocal previously reported, court documents secured show that Heroux was the facilities manager for Ogden Corporation — the company that had the contract at the O’Neill Federal Building. Heroux created a scheme in which he falsified payroll records and created “ghost” employees.
“The version of events in the Presentence Report, as submitted by AUSA Robert Richardson, depicts Mark Heroux as the initiator and director of this scheme as well as the person who had the final say on all decisions regarding this scheme. The government's version has Mark Heroux suggesting this scheme to Alice Beamer and making it appear that Mark Heroux had to approve of who would be the so-called ghost employee,” according to court documents.
Heroux illegally collected tens of thousands of dollars before his scheme was uncovered.
After repeated questions by GoLocal, Jay Wegimont, the spokesperson for PPSD, said, “PPSD was not aware of the [Heroux’s] prior conviction.”
But, Heroux disputes that claim.
In the phone interview with GoLocal, Heroux first said, “I don’t have permission to talk to anyone about Providence, including news folks.”
When asked about his conviction, Heroux said, "I don’t think this is something that needs to be said. Let me at least check with [Providence Public Schools]."
Heroux claimed that his contract with the Providence Schools prohibited him from speaking.
But, Heroux told GoLocal when asked if Providence School officials were aware of his conviction, “Yea, they are. Yup.”
According to Providence School records and confirmed by the agency, the contract for Heroux was for $183,900. More recently, he received another $80,000 plus in recent weeks.
After Heroux was hired, he and school officials began to communicate with only two of the three bidders, UG2 and ABM.
UG2 is a Boston-based company, who along with Aramark and ABM, all filled bids for the contract
The bids were due on Thursday, May 4, and were to be opened at the PPSD administration building. Hammond announced to those attending that the bids would be made public “in a couple of days.”
The bids were not made public.
In fact, Hammon and Heroux issued a requirement for another round of bidding — a Best And Final Offer (BAFO).
PPSD released the bids, but blocked out all of the financial information. GoLocal asked why the financial page was redacted for the bids.
“Why was all the financial information redacted? Bids are open in public, and bids are public information,” asked GoLocal’s CEO Josh Fenton to Johnson in an email.
Johnson claimed that redaction to the bids for the maintenance services contracts submitted to the PPSD because they contained “trade secrets.”
“Please be advised that the bids in question have information that may constitute trade secrets and confidential information. As each of the three bids are of considerable length, legal counsel is currently reviewing and redacting any information that cannot safely be publicly released. There are currently concerns with regard to RIGL 38-2-2(4)(A)(I)(b) Personnel Information, and RIGL 38-2-2(4)(B) Trade Secrets,” wrote Johnson in response to Fenton’s question.
Fenton asked, “Are there trade secrets about cleaning the bathrooms?”
Johnson did not respond.
Steve Brown, the executive director of the ACLU of Rhode Island, said about the refusal to release the bids, "The school department's award of its facilities management contract earlier this year generated a great deal of controversy. In accordance with the transparency goals of the state's open records law, the public should be able to ascertain the details underlying the school department's decision to award the contract to a new vendor.”
“The agency's refusal to release that information significantly hampers public oversight of the school department's activities, and that is why we believe a challenge to the department's response to GoLocal's request for that information appears to be in order,” Brown added.
The ACLU will be filing a lawsuit against PPSD on behalf of GoLocal in the coming weeks.
According to bid documents provided to GoLocal by a source, ABM lost both the initial bid and the BAFO to Aramark. UG2, the third bidder, was substantially higher in each round.
In the first round of bids, ABM bid $79,621,346 and Aramark $73,082,866.
PPSD rejected those bids and required the BAFO round.
In the BAFO round, ABM bid a base price of $73,195,625 — again, that price was higher than Aramark, who bid the same amount they bid in the first round — $73,082,866.
Then, ABM was given another opportunity to bid and lowered its price just below the Aramark price.
ABM’s second BAFO came in just above $72,890,000.
According to a spokesman for Aramark, Frank McMahon said his client was never given the opportunity to participate in the second BAFO bid. “I have conferred with my client, and Aramark was not provided the opportunity by PPSD to present a second best and final offer,” said McMahon, who heads the lobbying and public relations firm Advocacy Solutions.
Hannon, the woman who ran the bidding process, resigned from her purchasing position after the contract was awarded to ABM.
She repeatedly refused to answer GoLocal questions. Recently, she announced on social media she is moving away from Rhode Island. “Hello, LinkedIn Network! I’m embarking on a new adventure and relocating to Denver, Colorado! I'd greatly appreciate any guidance, job leads, or connections in the Denver area that could help me kickstart this new chapter,” Hannon posted.
In August, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley raised concerns about the selection of ABM as the new facilities maintenance vendor for the Providence Schools — a contract worth more than $70 million.
“We continue to hear concerning information about the process and result of the new contract for our school facility vendor. The Providence School Board and District leadership should have done their due diligence to ask the difficult, but necessary, questions on a contract and commitment of this magnitude,” said Smiley in an email to GoLocal.
“I am deeply disturbed, and it’s a point of conversation with the office,” said Rogel after reading the GoLocal report.
When asked if the Providence School Department staff had briefed the school board on ABM’s track record, Rogel said they did not.