Navigant Consulting, an international consulting firm that conducted an investigative review of Gainesville Regional Utilities and issued a 179-page report regarding its findings earlier this year, has requested around $33,000 more from the city for its work — but it doesn’t look like it’s likely to get that money.
In a June 1 letter to Todd Lester, Navigant’s managing director, City Auditor Carlos Holt said he had received the firm’s final and supplemental invoices regarding its contract with the city.
The original contract price was for $189,000. However, the Gainesville City Commission later approved an extra $145,000, bumping the overall total up to $334,000, including expenses, according to Holt’s letter.
Since that amendment to the contract in January, the city hasn’t received any request for a contract change order and hasn’t been notified of any unforeseen conditions or additional requirements, Holt wrote. Navigant has asked for another $33,310 from the city, which includes more than $23,100 for professional fees, $6,878 for data collection and storage and about $3,250 for expenses.
“However, since we have not received any prior request for these apparently unforeseen circumstances nor have we had an opportunity to apply proper scrutiny to the use of public funds prior to incurring the responsibility for paying them, I do not believe a ratification of this post factum change order to be valid,” Holt wrote.
To read the letter yourself, check out the City Commission’s email archive.