Opinion: Crist's curious contract

Charlie Crist, Florida's lame-duck commissioner of education, has somehow managed to botch one of the few real tasks that remain within his control. He has awarded a $897,000 computer contract to a company that his own technical staff rejected, and, in so doing, has left taxpayers with two palpable clues about his decision:

1) The company's lobbyist is married to Crist's chief of staff, Robin Safley.

2) One month before the bid was awarded, the company and its president gave Crist $1,000 for his campaign for attorney general.

Crist is miffed that people would read something sinister into his curious contract choice. He told the Tampa Tribune: "If people decide they want to make a contribution to this candidate, it's because they support my goals. And if anybody thinks they're going to get anything else, that's it -- that's all they're going to get: less government and greater efficiency."

Of course, the technology experts in his own Department of Education say the bid offered by Jacksonville-based Information Systems of Florida is neither less government nor greater efficiency. It would simply cost taxpayers more -- roughly $100,000 more than a competing bid from Advanced Systems Design. That's why the DOE experts recommended Advanced Systems.

Crist, who pushed this year for legislation that requires school districts to account for excessive administrative costs, has not bothered to explain why he wants to buy a system his staff experts say would cost taxpayers more in the long run. He instead points out that Advanced Systems has decided to drop its formal bid protest, as if that somehow removes the cloud.

The contract procedure also tends to raise larger questions of educational accountability. Crist was elected last year to a job that is being abolished, and he has spent much of his first seven months on the job dutifully raising money -- $744,538 at last count -- for his next political venture, a campaign for attorney general. Gov. Jeb Bush, given the chance this spring to reshape all of public education, picked someone other than Crist to be in charge, and that appointee, Education Secretary Jim Horne, is already on the job. Crist may like to show up at the press conferences, but Horne and the new Board of Education are the ones calling the shots.

The company that wins this bid will help establish, and likely maintain, a course numbering system that is vital to all the post-secondary schools for years to come. Is Horne satisfied with the choice? Are taxpayers getting the best deal? Did Information Systems win the bid on its technical superiority or its political connections to Crist?

To date, Crist has shown no particular remorse for using the education commissioner's office as a platform from which to hold campaign fundraisers for attorney general, but how much longer can Horne afford to let him play pretend?

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