Board pays $1.14M to study district’s efficiency
Jessica Smith
lleges Governing Board signed a $1.14 million contract with efficiency consultants Alvarez and Marsal on Aug. 17. In a 3-2 vote, the MCCCD Board approved A&M over two other candidates.
Over the next four months, the firm will conduct a districtwide evaluation of the Maricopa Community College system, identifying inefficiencies and recommending reforms.
The Board is hoping a fresh perspective will help streamline the district’s operations, resulting in less money getting caught up in bureaucratic and special interests and more funds reaching classrooms.
Colleen Clark, Governing Board president, said an outside consultant was sought by the district because “we need fresh eyes, we need an objective perspective and the only way to bring that in is to bring in a third party.”
“The review comes at a time when we know we are working in a global environment and we need our higher education system to acknowledge that and to move and adjust in such a manner,” Clark said.
The official source of funding for the project is expected to be approved at the Aug. 25 Governing Board meeting. An action item on the Board’s agenda recommends that $900,000 from the Basic Contingency Budget be used as well as a transfer from the District office budget, which will cover the remaining balance.
With student enrollment up nearly 25 percent this fall, critics are wondering about the necessity of the contract and whether the money would be better spent in the classrooms.
“We publicly went on record that we agreed that there were probably inefficiencies, (but) we felt that it could be done internally,” said Jim Simpson, Faculty Association president.
“Even if an outside consultant was to be brought on, we didn’t feel that A&M was the right consultant. They’re a business crises turnaround firm and we are not in a crises,” Simpson said.
When asked whether other essential services for students would suffer at the expense of the A&M contract, Simpson said, “I think the Board, the three members (who) voted for it, they think that this consultant group’s recommendations will pay for itself. That they will find $1.3 million of savings.
“And actually that may be true but it won’t be this year,” Simpson continued. “They might find savings in subsequent years to pay for the investment, and we as the Faculty Association feel that right now we need the money in the classroom. What do we do? Raise class sizes? We need money for more classes, they’re filling up. There’s where the money needs to be spent.
“We also felt, and this is the biggest . thing, right now when we are having double digit enrollment increases, $1.3 million needs to be in the classroom.”
An independent committee recommended A&M to the Governing Board, Clark said.
“We created an RFP (Request for Proposal) that fit the needs and desires of where we want to go,” Clark added, “and so through that, the RFP was viewed by over 250 firms and we had nine responses. Of those nine, our committee created three finalists and from those three, A&M was the excelling winner.”
As for the reason why A&M was chosen over the others, Clark said, “A&M has a strong sense of innovation (and) a clear commitment to excellence. Their history is indicative of that.”
The issue of recouping the expense of the contract was one of the questions Clark asked at the Board meeting in which A&M presented their proposal. Clark is confident that the district’s investment will be returned.
“.Certainly at the heart of this review (is) that we will more than recapture what is spent on the review.
