PITTSBURGH — The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office is requesting records of a contract between the city of Pittsburgh and a consulting group.
The company, Matrix Consulting Group, released a report last month that suggested the city pull 188 officers out of the patrol unit.
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Its unclear why the D.A. made the request, but officials with the Gainey Administration were quick to defend the process that led to the contract with Matrix.
“That study was procured in a legal, ethical and transparent fashion,” Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak said.
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The contract was signed without a bidding process. Pawlak says the administration used an exemption because negotiations with the Fraternal Order of Police were about the begin and they believed information from the report may be needed.
Channel 11 obtained a copy of that waiver from our sources.
“The exemption exists for a reason. We deployed it in a reasonable fashion,” Pawlak said.
City council members also have questions about the exemption. District 4 representative Anthony Coghill tells Channel 11 they want to know more about the “procurement process” and who has the authority to award a no-bid contract.
“We do feel maybe some things were done out of line there but not to the point where there was criminal activity by any means,” Coghill said.
“I have no idea what the concerns are because we’ve never received information from the district attorney as to what they are concerned about,” Pawlak said.
District Attorney Stephen Zappala issued a statement Friday afternoon saying “A number of concerns have been brought to my attention from the public and private officials pertaining to the city’s public safety. Our office intends to thoroughly look into this to the best of our abilities.”
“We stand behind the process by which their services were secured and the questions now arising about the process, I believe, are frivolous and are either misguided or politically motivated,” Pawlak said.
“My thoughts are I don’t know. Could be. I know our district attorney very well. I don’t think he does things out of spite,” Coghill said.
The Gainey Administration plans to comply with both inquiries.
Coghill says he called Zappala and is hoping to have a conversation with him about the issue soon.
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