Info re Bidding for a Large Dallas Ethics Training Contract
Today, I received a copy of the <a href="http://www.dallascityhall.com/council_briefings/agendas/agendas_0812/Fi…; target="”_blank”">Dallas
City Council agenda addendum for its August 22 meeting</a>.
This addendum contains (pp. 11-17) extensive information about a
large ($434,495) contract for "the assessment of the City’s current ethics
guidelines and the development of an ethics training program." City
Ethics was a partner in the losing bid of the Josephson Institute of
Ethics.<br>
<br>
The report on the bidding on this project shows how empty the field
of government ethics is of experienced consultants. As far as I can
tell, only two of the bidders had any expertise in government ethics
training: the Josephson Institute (with a character-oriented
approach) and the ICMA (with an administrative ethics focus). The
other bidders are either management consultants, corporate ethics
and compliance trainers, or corporate trainers without an ethics or
compliance specialty.<br>
<br>
The job consists of the training of 13,000 city employees. The
three-year term starts with an assessment of the current ethics
program and employee attitudes about government ethics, followed by
the development of a training program based on what is found. The
training is to consist of a two-hour instructor-led course, with one
hour general background, the other hour focused on the specific
group being trained (a good idea). However, there does not appear to
be any small-group discussions of scenarios, which is especially
valuable. Nor does there appear to be more extensive training for higher-level offiicals. In fact, the addendum mentions only employees and staff, not officials.<br>
<br>
In the second and third year, the vendor is to assess the
effectiveness of the training program, and develop ways to sustain
it beyond the end of the contract, including videos, e-mail
messages, and a train-the-trainer program for 25 human resources
employees.<br>
<br>
The contract was won by <a href="http://www.navigant.com" target="”_blank”">Navagant
Consulting</a>, a management consulting company that, on its
website, does not state any expertise in government ethics or
training. It does, however, have an <a href="http://www.navigant.com/industries/government_public_service/">expertise
in consulting to governments</a> on a variety of issues.<br>
<br>
The other bidders were as follows:<br>
<a href="http://icma.org/en/icma/home" target="”_blank”"><br>
International City/County Management Association</a> (ICMA), the
big surprise for me, since it is a professional association.
However, it does do extensive administrative ethics training of
local government officials and employees<br>
<br>
<a href="http://josephsoninstitute.org/" target="”_blank”">Josephson Institute of
Ethics</a>, whose expertise is in ethics training (with City
Ethics to assess the city's ethics program)<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.littler.com" target="”_blank”">Littler Mendelson</a>, a Dallas
employment and labor law specialist that has a <a href="http://www.littler.com/practice-areas/corporate-compliance-and-ethics">…
in corporate compliance</a> and risk assessment, including
training in corporate codes of conduct<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.ethicsbydesign.com/" target="”_blank”">Dr. Michael Palmer dba
Ethics by Design</a>, whose expertise is in ethics and compliance
training<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.igniteitgroup.com/" target="”_blank”">Clear Message Communication
dba Ignite It Group</a>, a Dallas firm that specializes in
"strategic learning programs," but does not list ethics among its
programs<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.affulconsulting.com/" target="”_blank”">Afful Consulting</a>, a
firm that specializes in "human capital management," including
corporate training, but not in ethics, according to its website<br>
<br>
NaSmith Consulting, a Dallas-area firm about which I could find next to
nothing<br>
<br>
The bids were evaluated by a committee consisting of officials from
the following city departments:<br>
<br>
City Controller<br>
Street Services<br>
Human Resources<br>
Police<br>
Fire Rescue<br>
City Manager’s Office<br>
Business Development and Procurement Services<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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