Behind the Lenir Deal

What follows addresses the perception – and the reality – of that selection process:

LeNir Ltd. is a real estate consulting and development company headed by President Doug Fowler.

LeNir was originally hired Jan. 20, 2003, on a no-bid contract with the R-XII district to consult on the bond projects to be funded by the upcoming $30 million bond issue, as well as real estate issues and program management, a form of project delivery not previously used by R-XII.

The school district decided to pursue program management for its 2003 bond projects, and as part of LeNir’s consulting contract, Fowler helped put together the request for proposal on program management. He then responded to the RFP and was selected for a majority of the work.

The popular impression of the program manager selection process was that:

• Fowler authored the RFP for program management and then responded to his own RFP, winning 55 percent of the work and a fee of $725,087.

• Fowler’s company was selected as a finalist for program management based in part on the qualifications of an affiliate company, Construction Strategies Inc., that Fowler dropped prior to the contract award. Without CSI’s experience, Fowler’s application showed no experience with school projects, no experience with bond-financed construction and no experience with construction in Missouri.

• The selection process for program management was panned by two of the four review committee members based on the fact that they were never asked for their recommendations on the candidates and the selection was therefore made without their input.

• LeNir’s only Springfield-based employee was the husband of a district employee in the superintendent’s office.

But what really happened?

• First, while it was true that Fowler provided a rough draft of the RFP to the committee that wrote the final document, he did not author the RFP.

Cherie Alderson, director of financial services, heads the R-XII business office. In that capacity, she ultimately has responsibility for all district contracts. She said the RFP was a collaborative effort with input from Fowler, school staff and legal counsel.

“We hire all kinds of people to help, and as long as we pay them for their services, they are kept on an even playing field with anyone else who then turns around and applies,” she said.

• Fowler did end his relationship with CSI prior to the awarding of the contract, but he said that school officials and board members were aware that he had done so.

Fowler said he dropped CSI because a member of the review committee brought up that a past job by a CSI-related company had not gone well, and he was asked if he was willing to proceed without them.

Alderson said that because Fowler had listed CSI as an affiliate, “In our mind we were looking at what LeNir could do for us. His relationship with CSI was between him and CSI, and he needed to make the determination as to whether that would affect his ability to perform the contract.”

Examination of Fowler’s response to the RFP did show that, excluding CSI’s qualifications, his proposal demonstrated no experience with school projects, bond-financed projects or Missouri construction.

But Alderson said those gaps were overshadowed by Fowler’s other experience – including retail, office and multimillion dollar condominium development – and his references.

• It is true that two of the four review committee members who interviewed the program manager finalists expressed doubts about the process afterwards.

The review committee comprised Alderson, Assistant Superintendent Pam McGinnis, Ozarks Technical Community College Facilities Manager Randy Phinney and Missouri State University Construction Manager Doug Sampson. Phinney declined to comment on the program manager selection, save to agree with Sampson, who said he was “very uncomfortable being associated with that process,” in part because the committee never met as a group to discuss its recommendations.

“I needed to turn everything back in – they didn’t want me to keep a thing – so I did that. I think I probably told Cherie concerns, pluses or whatever. And that was pretty much the last I ever officially heard of it,” Sampson said.

Going in, he said, he had no idea how the interviewees had been qualified or selected, how many had originally applied and, if they were indeed finalists, how the field had been narrowed.

“I’m just used to a totally different process than what Springfield School District used,” Sampson said. “I’m not trying to be critical of their process, but it’s just not as open, I don’t think, as ours is.”

Upon being told of Phinney’s and Sampson’s reactions to the process, Alderson expressed surprise.

“My notes indicate that they did give follow-up comments,” she said. “As far as I know, they were informed of the process.”

• Finally, school administration agrees that the fact that LeNir’s only local employee, Glen Roper, is the husband of the superintendent’s secretary, Carol Roper, looks odd. In fact, as far as appearances go, “It stinks,” said new Superintendent Norm Ridder.

However, R-XII has no policy in place regarding contractor employment of staff’s family members, and Ridder said Glen Roper’s hiring was not a conflict.

“We have teachers working in two different buildings who are husband and wife, or even in the same building, so I don’t see the conflict,” he said. “But I know it smells, so I’m always very hesitant to do something like that.”

In the future, Ridder hopes for a well-communicated, transparent process. “Our philosophy is to keep everything as open as possible.”[[In-content Ad]]