Low bidder says California will overpay testing contractor
California education officials relied on three paper slips and a box to help determine who would win a nearly quarter-billion-dollar contract to overhaul the state’s system of testing students.
At a state Board of Education meeting last month, board President Michael Kirst drew each of the three firms’ names to decide the order in which they would present their case.
“It will be a random choice,” Kirst said, illustrating the lengths taken to help ensure a thorough and evenhanded bidding process.
The apparent loser, however, says it was anything but fair. Pearson School questions whether it was put through an elaborate charade designed to pick the state’s current testing vendor, Educational Testing Service. Pearson representatives want the job rebid and are threatening a lawsuit.
In the world of lucrative government contracts, the effort to design and build a system for more than 3 million students a year could have far-reaching implications. The new assessments are considered a cornerstone of the state’s education system, helping improve classroom instruction and marking progress in English and mathematics for kindergarten through 12th grade. Given the innovative approaches being considered, experts said the winning bidder would be in position to parlay the agreement to provide tests to other states.
At the urging of Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, Kirst and his colleagues unanimously agreed to pursue a pact with ETS, which is proposing a three-year deal worth $240 million, $34 million more than the plan submitted by Pearson. ETS has provided testing in California for more than a dozen years.
“ETS’ flexibility and corporate agility will allow negotiations and scope(s) of work to benefit not only the (department), but also our students, educators, and the people of California,” Torlakson said.
In the days that followed, Pearson attorney Donald G. Featherstun wrote that the company had serious concerns about the propriety of the department’s evaluation. He pointed to the decision to shred original notes used to score the bids and demanded officials “cease destroying any additional documents,” according to a letter obtained by The Sacramento Bee.
The company also complained that ETS was required to essentially adopt a portion of Pearson’s plan calling for the recruitment, training and paying of teachers to help score parts of the standardized tests.
Doug Kubach, the president and chief executive of Pearson School, the assessment division of London-based Pearson, urged in a letter of his own that the job be rebid “to remove any taint to the procurement process.”
“We have a lot of questions about the process because it does not seem to have been transparent and necessarily is a process that leads to the best result for the teachers and taxpayers in California,” he said in an interview.
Keric Ashley, deputy state superintendent, said in a written statement that although costs are crucial, the most important consideration is the technical ability of a company to test millions of students every year,Low bidder says California will overpay testing contractor | The Sacramento Bee The Sacramento Bee: