Public Eye: Did Sacramento school district pay company without a contract?
Published: Sunday, Apr. 1, 2012 - 12:00 am | Page 1B
Facing a $1.5 million lawsuit from an energy education consultant, the Sacramento City Unified School District fired back last month with a cross complaint saying its board never approved the company's contract and it was never put out to public bid as required by law.
The school district also contends that Dallas-based Energy Education Inc. uses faulty metrics to determine savings, which resulted in the district paying the firm performance fees of $23,500 a month that it wants back.
In all, the district paid Energy Education nearly $1 million between September 2008 and May 2011, when it stopped making payments.
Mike Gullatt, Energy Education's senior vice president of corporate communications, said his company strongly disputes the district's allegations.
The company followed all the district's procurement and legal rules, Gullat said.
"We would not have moved forward without board approval. That's confusing to us," he said.
The original contract called for the district to pay Energy Education $1.6 million to provide an