Atlanta’s Office of the Inspector General has publicly released its latest investigative report into city business, finding that the city improperly awarded a potentially multi-million dollar contract to a bidder with privileged information. In response, the city attorney disputed the report, released Dec. 4, calling it “unprofessional.”
The 31 page investigation from the city’s independent watchdog, Inspector General Shannon Manigault, found that Accenture was improperly awarded a contract worth up to $3.37 million over five years to provide a customer relationship management system for the city’s 311 service. Accenture has been a city contractor since 2018, according to the Atlanta Office of Procurement’s open expenditures database.
The OIG found that Accenture had gained an unfair advantage over other bidders through its communications with several top city officials — including mayoral cabinet members Deputy COO LaChandra Burks, Deputy COO Jason Ingram, AIM CIO Jason Sankey, and ATL311 Commissioner Myesha Good — before and during the request for information (RFI) process, according to the report. It also found that several Accenture employees appeared to draw on past roles on Mayor Andre Dickens’ transition team to secure meetings with city officials.
In fact, the report said, the city’s own chief procurement officer, Jaideep Majumdar, had advised against allowing Accenture to bid on the 311 project. “This advice was not heeded. Accenture was able to participate in the solicitation and was ultimately awarded the contract,” it said.
According to the OIG report, the city and Accenture executed a contract in February 2024 for the 311 project and Accenture has been implementing it since then. The report added that the city paid Accenture $1.5 million for its services between May and August of this year.
“City officials did not follow procedures to ensure that there was a level playing field for other bidders,” the OIG report concluded. In a Nov. 21 letter to the Dickens administration, the OIG recommended that the city cease using Accenture for the contract.
City Attorney Patrise Perkins-Hooker rejected that recommendation, calling it incorrect and based on a “flawed and unprofessional investigation,” in a Nov. 25 response letter to the OIG.
Perkins-Hooker said the OIG misunderstood the RFI’s purpose in the procurement process, which included information-gathering and due diligence over the city’s existing technology before the city solicited bids. Her response added that the OIG mischaracterized the chief procurement officer’s comments about Accenture – and drew “an erroneous conclusion” about Accenture’s role on the mayor’s transition team, which the city attorney said was as a pro bono consultant on the team’s S.A.F.E. Streets subcommittee.
“Your recommendation to cease using the services of Accenture unilaterally without any valid, legally defensible position would undoubtedly [incur] liability for the city due to breach of contract,” Perkins-Hooker concluded.
“The report speaks for itself,” Manigaut told Atlanta Civic Circle last week, when asked for comment. But on Monday, her office issued a statement that re-asserted the findings of the report and rebutted the city attorney’s accusations of unprofessionalism.
“The public is not served by the uncivil manner with which the city has responded to OIG’s factual reports; nor is it served by the city’s use of ad hominem attacks and accusations of political bias to cast doubt on the conduct of OIG’s investigation and its objective investigative findings,” said the OIG’s Dec. 9 statement.
Asked for response to the OIG’s statement, Perkins-Hooker said in an email Tuesday that she has “no further comments to make. Nothing in the OIG’s response changes my opinion or the administration’s perspective on her investigation techniques or conclusions.”
Dispute continues
The city’s response to the OIG’s public release of its findings on the 311 contract on Dec. 4 was the latest salvo in the contentious dispute between Manigault and the city over how much investigative autonomy and scope her office should have. It followed an impromptu appearance from the mayor before the OIG governing board on Nov. 26, just before the Thanksgiving holiday, to offer assurances that the Atlanta City Council would not immediately pass legislation curtailing the OIG’s investigative powers.
Dickens was referring to controversial recommendations released Nov. 6 by a special task force convened by the city council. The task force’s report has drawn sharp criticism from Manigault and a letter of concern from the national Association of Inspectors General. If the city council adopts them, the city’s top watchdog has said she would resign in protest.
After the Thanksgiving break, the city council formally received the task force’s report at its scheduled Dec. 2 meeting without taking any further action. The next full city council meeting is scheduled for Jan. 6.
Meanwhile, the OIG’s governing board has cancelled a public forum on Offices of Inspector General, which was to feature “current/former inspectors general.” Slated for Dec. 10 at the city council chambers, the forum is expected to be rescheduled early next year.