FAQs
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FAQs
The Los Angeles Community College District (“LACCD” or “the District”) selected Affiliated Monitors, Inc. (“AMI”) to serve as the Independent Third-Party Monitor (the “Monitor”) of the District’s Bond Construction Program to help ensure that the District’s capital program funded with public monies through Proposition A, Proposition AA, Measure J, Measure CC, and Measure LA is run with the utmost integrity. In monitoring for misconduct such as corruption, bid-rigging, collusion, manipulation of bids, conflicts of interest, and other forms of fraud, waste, abuse as well as violations of laws and regulations, the Monitor has certain enumerated powers, including the power to take complaints from anyone with information about failures of integrity occurring within the Bond Construction Program at any of the District’s nine college campuses. The BPM team includes former government Inspector Generals, former Federal investigators, forensic accountants, subject matter experts in engineering and large public construction projects, and other professionals. The team is led by the Director of the BPM, Ms. Mikhail Gordon.
No. Although the Monitor does share reports of its activities, findings and recommendations with the District Citizens Oversight Committee, they are distinct from each other. The District Citizens Oversight Committee does not have investigative authority.
The DCOC Members are a diverse group of leaders from the business and education communities as well as the greater LA citizenry. Each of the nine colleges within LACCD hosts a DCOC. At least one member of each college-level DCOC serves on the larger District DCOC. As provided by law, the DCOC’s role is to inform the public concerning the District’s expenditure of revenues received from the sale of bonds authorized by the voters. The Committee serves as a form of public oversight ensuring that bond revenues are expended only for the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or replacement of college facilities, including the furnishing and equipping of college facilities, or the acquisition or lease of real property for college facilities. The DCOC reviews both the annual independent Bond program performance audit conducted and the annual independent financial audit of bond revenues. It may also inspect college facilities. The DCOC may share with the BPM any concerns it identifies through these reviews and ask the BPM to investigate further. To learn more about the DCOC, see their web page: https://www.build-laccd.org/resources/oversight/
Yes, the BPM and Bond Performance Auditor are distinct third-party entities who each carry out very different functions. The Bond Performance Auditor conducts an annual audit (the “performance audit”).
A performance audit is an objective analysis for use by District management and those charged with governance and oversight to improve bond program performance and operations, reduce costs, facilitate decision-making by parties with responsibility to oversee or initiate corrective action, and to contribute to public accountability.
Performance audits also seek to assess the effectiveness, economy, and efficiency of the bond program. Specifically, for the District Bond Construction Program, the performance audit evaluates certain aspects of the District’s management of the bond program and bond program expenditures in accordance with the requirements of California Proposition 39. Annual Bond Performance Audits can be found here: https://www.laccd.edu/offices/cfo/reports/bond-audits
As part of the greater oversight effort of the District’s Bond Construction program, the BPM and Performance Auditor coordinate and share areas of common concern within the program.
This website was established by AMI to provide information about LACCD’s Bond Construction Program Monitor (“BPM”) and its oversight role of the District’s Bond Construction Program. The site provides information and directs users how to submit concerns or complaints specifically involving the Bond Construction Program (“BCP”). It also serves as a resource for reports published by the BPM; provides key contact information; and aims to assist District personnel, students, BCP vendors, and community stakeholders to navigate how to notify the BPM of any fraud, waste or abuse occurring in the BCP. For more information about the BPM, please see the About section of this site. To submit a complaint, click here.
Anyone with knowledge or suspicion of misconduct occurring anywhere within the greater LACCD Bond Construction Program at any of the LACCD colleges may submit a complaint to the Monitor.
For example, you may be:
- An employee or contractor of LACCD
- An employee or contractor of BuildLACCD
- An employee or contractor of the Bond Construction Program Manager Office
- An employee or contractor of any contractor, sub-contractor, or service provider tasked with work on a project that is part of the District’s Bond Construction Program
- Be an external service provider to one of the above
- Be a member of the District Citizens’ Oversight Committee
- Be an LACCD Board of Trustee Be a vendor or supplier of services to LACCD
- Be a student at one of LACCD’s nine colleges
- Be a member of the public
The BPM takes all credible complaints or allegations about misconduct occurring within the LACCD Bond Construction Program very seriously and will evaluate each and every concern on its merits.
Yes! If you want to file a complaint anonymously, you can do so by using the BPM’s Anonymous Hotline, or via the anonymous complaint portal, HERE.
The BPM will not know who you are, but will still be able to contact you via a unique code only you will know. That code will allow you to log-in to the Complaint Portal or call again to Hotline to learn of the progress of your complaint, and to respond to questions the BPM may leave for you through either of the systems. You will remain anonymous. The BPM takes the protection of complainants very seriously and those lodging a complaint or concern who wish to remain anonymous may remain so.
If you are willing to share your identity, then we will still take all precautions to protect your identity and the information you provide to us.
Maybe. The Monitor’s Complaint web-based intake Portal will provide you with a standardized complaint intake form and allow for the upload of documentation in support of the complaint allegation(s).
If you prefer to call the Hotline, but have documentation you wish to share, you can get it to the BPM two ways: Attach small files via email or print larger volumes of documents and send it to us via the US Postal Service. Go to our Contact page for the addresses.
Providing supporting documentation will assist the BPM in evaluating your complaint and with determining if further investigation into your complaint is warranted. The more support you can provide around the complaint or concern you are telling us about, the better.
Upon receipt of a complaint through this website, the BPM will review your submission. If there is insufficient information provided, the BPM via the hotline or complaint portal may ask you to provide any supporting documentation or additional information you may have. If you have shared your name with the BPM, we may ask if you would be willing to speak to us directly.
The BPM evaluates every concern/complaint that is submitted to it. We take all complaints seriously and if the complaint or concern has merit, we will fact-gather diligently. Given the sensitive nature of some complaints and because so many allegations involve individuals, you may not always know what progress the BPM is making in its investigation(s). You can be assured that if we validate your complaint, the BPM will make recommendations for action commensurate with our findings.
It depends. If the Monitor feels that it is necessary in order to assess or investigate your complaint, the Monitor may share your complaint with the District Chancellor and/or the District’s General Counsel.
If the complaints were ever about either of these offices, the BPM may by-pass these offices and report their findings to external Bond Counsel.
Certain investigative findings may require the BPM to notify the Board of Trustees.
Certain investigative findings may require consultation with external Bond counsel.
If the BPM identifies misconduct that rises to criminality, the BPM may refer its findings to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office, the Los Angeles District Attorney, US Department of Justice, or other appropriate prosecutorial or regulatory office.
At a high level – that is without details that identify anyone or any entity – the BPM regularly reports to the District’s Chancellor, Board of Trustees, DCOC, and generally, the public of its activities. These reports aggregate the volume of complaints that have been received in any given month; the categories of said complaints (e.g., ‘bid-rigging,’ ‘corruption,’ ‘conflict of interest,’ etc.); the number of investigations opened, active, referred to law enforcement, referred for civil action, investigations resolved, as well as other actions taken by the BPM.
Complaints about District personnel including allegations of bias or discrimination, harassment, on-campus interactions with fellow students, faculty or staff, including questions about student loans, curriculum, College or District activities unrelated to the Bond Construction Program, or other misconduct occurring in other programs or departments are not within the authority of the Monitor to address.
For allegations related to LACCD personnel or college staff misconduct or inappropriate workplace behavior, other than fraud and corruption (e.g., harassment and retaliation) please contact the LACCD’s Internal Audit Department:
LACCD Internal Audit:
Call: 800-851-3699
Fax: 213-239-5650
Website: www.laccd.edu/whistleblower-hotline
Mail:
Investigations – Internal Audit Department
770 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90017
