All Houston Independent School District employees may soon have to sign conflict-of-interest forms prohibiting them from accepting gifts from current or prospective district vendors -- a requirement currently imposed only on HISD’s high-level administrators.

The ethics proposal bans employees from accepting “any gift, favor, service, entertainment or anything of more than token value.” If approved by trustees Thursday, all employees would sign the statements twice a year.

The proposal is one of two measures aimed at accountability that HISD trustees will take up this week. The new rules come in the wake of allegations that district employees got cash and other freebies from potential vendors in a scandal that cost the district $105 million in federal technology funding, plus another $850,000 in federal fines.

The other ethics-related proposal on Thursday’s agenda would prohibit employees who work closely with vendor contracts from communicating with bidders after the district requests a vendor’s services.

This “code of silence” would ban any communication “regarding a request for proposal (RFP), bid or other competitive solicitation” between any company or individual seeking work from the district and certain HISD staffers, including any:

“... Board member, the superintendent of schools, and any senior staff member, principal, department head, director, manager, or other district representative who has influence in the evaluation or selection process."

The proposal will allow others to see the school system is being transparent, HISD Chief Financial Officer Melinda Garrett said. “We (HISD) are not going off in some back room and signing contracts,” she said.

But HISD Superintendent Terry Grier, who has been at the helm of the nation’s seventh-largest school district for about a year now, has called the district’s contracting process into question.

"I have seen a procurement department made up of independent folks rate bids from a variety of different companies across the district to do a lot of different work," Grier said in May. "And then I've seen staff -- just for whatever reason -- pull names off of a list and put other names back on a list, (with) no rhyme or reason except, quite frankly, influence where influence has no business coming from." View his entire comment in the video below.


   
Grier said the goal of the two policies is to inform vendors trying to do business with HISD that the Houston district operates differently than some other school systems.

“In school districts across the country, vendors will come into a district and offer sport jerseys to district employees in exchange for computer contracts. Don’t think it doesn’t happen because it does,” Grier said. “HISD will not allow for this type of behavior, so we are banning all gifts.”

The proposed new conflict-of-interest policy allows for “items of token value” to be given as gifts. According to the proposal that includes “coffee mugs, key chains, caps, and the like.”

The policy does not consider plaques or other commemorative items as gifts, but it bans any meals from a single person or vendor worth more than $100 single calendar year. Any meals given in the $50-$100 range in one calendar year can be accepted, but must be disclosed on the biannual statements.

In 2008, HISD employees and the district were at the center of a federal investigation following allegations of employees accepting gifts, meals and entertainment from vendors associated with a federal technology program, E-Rate. Three HISD technology employees at the time allegedly accepted meals, birthday parties and cash from E-Rate vendors that were doing business with HISD at the time.

Those three former HISD employees all signed conflict-of-interest statements with HISD stating they did not receive any gifts or meals worth $100 -- even though public records said they did accept meals and gifts worth more than that amount. The three former employees also did not report receiving any meals worth $50-$100.

The individuals subject to the “code of silence” would be notified when the quiet period is to begin for each contract process. The period of no communication would continue until HISD trustees have approved the bid or awarded the contract.

According to HISD, if a vendor broke the rules by contacting a board member or employee during the quiet period, that company would be banned from doing business with the school system for at least two years.

Thursday is the second time HISD trustees will take a vote on these proposals. The HISD trustees approved both of them unanimously last month. The policy change requires two votes by the trustees before it can be put into effect.

The trustees will meet after a public meeting on the district’s financial accountability rating that begins at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Hattie Mae White Building on West 18th Street.

Contact Lynn Walsh at Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter: @LWalsh.

Gift picture by flickr user MarcinMoga/Lolek, used via a Creative Commons license.