There’s been a bit of a change of heart. Initially, we were going to post the whole story which we’re still working on.
Then we thought about giving the judicial council the opportunity to respond…. but over the weekend we figured that it was beneficial that you dear readers should know the questions that we asked the Judicial Council. With their standard fare of taking ten days to get back with the public just to tell us how many days, weeks or months that would elapse to produce answers responsive to our request we figured that you should be able to follow the dots and come to your own conclusions about the states most expensive courthouse and when you do, we think that you too will demand some answers.
What is written below is an excerpt from an email written to pubinfo@courts.ca.gov.
The questions below pertain to the Long Beach courthouse PPP project and were directed at that project. The information was gleaned from a variety of public records, one of which was the actual Long Beach contract that we obtained from the state Department of Finance because the Judicial Council wouldn’t turn it over.
The State Department of Finance turned it over less than 48 hours after we requested it.
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1. In a few different sources, it was presented that there were initially 11 potential consortium bidders on this project, yet I can find no record of whom the 11 potential consortiums were. Can you please provide me a list of all 11 potential bidders that initially responded? Specifically, I am looking for their legal DBA name(s) of the consortiums and comprised companies and their business address at the time of their response.
2. These 11 potential bidders were whittled down to 5 potential bidders selected for the interview.
2a) Who were the 5 potential bidders selected for the interview? and
2b) Who were the members of the committee that whittled down the 11 potential bidders to the 5 potential bidders selected for the interview?
2c) Who were the “interviewers” of the 5 potential bidders?
3. At each stage of this process there must have been criteria that qualified or disqualified the proposers and interviewees. Can you please disclose the criteria that caused you to
3a) Select the initial 5 interviewees from a field of 11 potential bidders?
3b) Select the subsequent 3 proposers from a field of 5 interviewees?
4. On May 8, 2009 the AOC announced that 3 proposers were selected to bid on this project. Balfour Beatty Capital, Inc, California Judicial Partners LLC and Langford-Phelps Long Beach Judicial Partners LLC yet on May 8, 2009, only one of the selected entities was legally permitted to do business in California. Later, at the time of the award of the project, only one of the selected entities was legally permitted to do business in California. Oddly, the entity that was selected was none of the above, it was an entity named Long Beach Judicial Partners LLC which was first registered with the department of corporations on May 21, 2009.
4a) If, on May 8, 2009 as department of corporations records show, only one entity was legally permitted to do business in California, why were the other two short-listed to make a proposal?
4b) Your contract required the successful bidder to compensate the unsuccessful bidders a half of a million dollars each for their time and effort in making their proposals. Yet at the time of the award, the unsuccessful bidders were not qualified or otherwise licensed to do business in California. Were these half million dollar payments made to the unqualified bidders and can you provide a 1099 or copy of checks made to the unqualified, unlicensed and unsuccessful bidders?
4c) If these payments were not made, have you recovered these funds from Long Beach Judicial Partners, LLC?
Judicial Council Watcher 
unionman575
July 6, 2015
Nice work JCW!
😉
Auntie Bureaucrat
July 6, 2015
I wonder how many doors are slamming at 455 Golden Gate this morning.
Nice work, JCW.
Wendy Darling
July 6, 2015
“Your contract required the successful bidder to compensate the unsuccessful bidders a half of a million dollars each for their time and effort in making their proposals. Yet at the time of the award, the unsuccessful bidders were not qualified or otherwise licensed to do business in California.”
Since when do companies that submit an unsuccessful bid for a public works project get compensated “for their time and effort” in being an unsuccessful bidder, much less to the tune of a half a million dollars EACH? Not to mention that the unsuccessful bidders were unlicensed in California and therefore not qualified to bid in the first place.
Sounds like a Judicial Branch administration version of “pay to play.”
Still serving themselves to the detriment of all Californians.
Long live the ACJ.
Auntie Bureaucrat
July 6, 2015
Right, Wendy? Had I known I would have bid.
katy
July 6, 2015
Good stuff, JCW. Further indication that a BSA audit of the court construction funds going back to at least 2009, is warranted.
Quick search of CEO’s of Long Beach Judicial Partners, LLC (LBJC) — and more questions arise.
Who was listed as the CEO and BOD of LBJC when they became a legal entity in CA in late May ’09 — after they already had the contract award by the JC/AOC in early May ’09?
LBJC is Meridiam Infrastructure’s project company.
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Two CEO’s of LBJC from August 2010 to present:
1. Current:
Freddie Rayes (June 2014 to present) https://www.linkedin.com/pub/freddy-rayes/1a/1aa/342
In January 2011, Mr. Rayes joined LBJC as its VP Design and Construction.
For twenty years prior to this position, he was with Heery International, a Balfour Beatty Company (“January 1990 – December 2010”)
From May ’09 to Jan 10 he was the “AOC, California New Long Beach Courthouse Project Director, Senior Associate” for Heery/Balfour Beatty
[Huh? LBJC got the contract in May 09. Mr. Rayes did not join LBJC until January ’11. Why was he working with the AOC on the LB courthouse for Heery/Balfour Beatty until December ’10? They lost the contract bid in May ’09]
Prior to becoming CEO in June ’14, while working with LBJC from Jan ’11 to June of ’14, he was the “Senior Management Position of Long Beach Judicial Partners on the new AOC courthouse during Design and Construction on behalf of the developer/ investors under a PPP delivery.”
As of June 2014, he is “Chief Executive Officer LBJC, Asset Management of the Long Beach Courthouse”
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2. Former LBJP CEO:
Stephen Reinstein https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenreinstein
(CEO from August 2010 to July 2014).
He “Successfully established, staffed & directed LBJP, New York-based Meridiam Infrastructure’s project company & its consortium (Clark/AECOM & Johnson Controls) in executing a 35 year Project Agreement with the State of California Judicial Council’s Administrative Office of the Courts to finance, design, build, operate & maintain a new 545,000 SF courthouse in downtown Long Beach’s redevelopment area for a 35 year term. This multiple award-winning project, the Gov. George Deukmejian Courthouse, represents the first availability-pay, equity-based social infrastructure Public Private Partnership (“PPP”) to reach financial and construction completion in the U.S. With a $518.5 Millon capital value, the project includes 31 courtrooms, detention center/holding cells & administrative office space for the Superior Court.”
HOW did he “successfully established, staffed & directed LBJP” while not becoming their CEO until Aug ’10? They got the LB contract in May ’09.
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Mr. Reinstein will be a presenter at the March 2016 P3 Conference along with Mr. Clifford Ham of the AOC http://thep3conference.com/speakers/clifford-ham/
“Clifford Ham joined the AOC in 2002 and served as planner for the statewide court facilities master planning. He was promoted to Principal Architect in 2006. Mr. Ham’s major areas of responsibility include: development and continued improvement of architectural and technical standards for court buildings; lead creation of California Trial Court Facilities Standards, adopted by Judicial Council April 2006 (currently leading development of the 2011 edition of these Standards); project management for large new court building capital development projects (San Diego Central Court building, Long Beach Court building, California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division Three, Santa Ana new Appellate Court building); supports the project managers for the court projects with peer reviews, best practices and technical assistance; leads the Superior Courts of California, Seismic Assessment Program, 2003-04, evaluated 225 existing trial court buildings, to determine the seismic safety risk rating prior to transfer of responsibility from the counties to the state, in accordance with the Trial Court Facilities Act of 2002.”
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anonymous
July 6, 2015
Collusive bidding: A primer-
http://guide.iacrc.org/potential-scheme-collusive-bidding/
sharonkramer
July 7, 2015
“Stephen Reinstein was until very recently CEO of Long Beach Judicial Partners, Meridiam Infrastructure’s project company, the developer of the 531,000 SF George Deukmejian Courthouse in Long Beach, California. Representing the first availability-pay, performance-based social infrastructure Public Private Partnership project to achieve financial close, construction completion and operations in the U.S., design and construction was completed ahead of schedule and under its $495 Million budget, in August 2013.”
http://thep3conference.com/speakers/2015/#eric-krueger
sharonkramer
July 7, 2015
Click to access min011210.pdf
JUDICIAL COUNCIL MEETING Minutes of the January 21, 2010, Meeting San Francisco, California
Judicial Council members present: Chief Justice Ronald M. George; Justices Marvin R. Baxter, Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Brad R. Hill, and Richard D. Huffman; Judges George J. Abdallah, Jr., Lee Smalley Edmon, Terry B. Friedman, Dennis E. Murray, Winifred Younge Smith, Kenneth K. So, Sharon J. Waters (attended remotely via telephone), James Michael Welch, David S. Wesley, and Erica R. Yew; Ms. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Mr. James N. Penrod, and Mr. William C. Vickrey; advisory members: Judges Mary Ann O’Malley and Michael P. Vicencia; Commissioner Lon F. Hurwitz; Mr. Frederick K. Ohlrich, Mr. Michael D. Planet, Mr. Michael M. Roddy, and Ms. Kim Turner….staff: Mr. Peter Allen, Ms. Dianne Barry, Mr. Christopher Belloli, Ms. Dianne M. Bolotte, Ms.Deborah Brown, Ms. Sheila Calabro, Ms. Nancy Carlisle, Mr. James Carroll, Ms. RomaCheadle, Mr. Curtis L. Child, Mr. Kenneth Couch, Ms. Diane E. Cowdrey, Ms. Chris
Cunningham, Mr. Patrick Danna, Ms. Charlene Depner, Ms. Rachel Dragolovich, Ms.Lura Dymond, Mr. Robert Emerson, Mr. Ekuike Falorca, Mr. Robert Fleshman, Mr. Ernesto V. Fuentes, Mr. Clifford Ham, Ms. Fran Haselsteiner, Ms. Donna S.Hershkowitz, Ms. Lynn Holton, Mr. Kenneth L. Kann, Ms. Maria Kwan, Mr. Ken Levy,Mr. Robert Lowney, Mr. Charles Martel, Ms. Susan McMullan, Ms. Georgianne Messina, Ms. Christine Miklas, Mr. Stephen Nash, Ms. Diane Nunn, Mr. Ronald G.Overholt, Ms. Jody Patel, Ms. Christine Patton, Ms. Mary M. Roberts, Ms. Teresa Ruano,Ms. Jeannine Seher, Ms. Sonia Sierra Wolf, Mr. Curt Soderlund, Ms. Nancy E. Spero, Ms. Jill Whelchel, Mr. Lee Willoughby, and Ms. Jeannette Wong….
Chief Justice Ronald M. George reviewed the meeting’s purpose as a special session of the council devoted principally to the issue of court closures. He referred back to the council’s unanimous vote in July 2009 favoring a uniform one-day-per-month court closure plan as authorized by legislation and signed by the Governor, a course of action the council chose only after exploring alternatives, because of the economic crisis and the unprecedented reductions in the branch budget….
He also stated that one of the significant benefits of state funding has been the stability provided to the courts—statewide funding has increased trial court budgets nearly 50 percent during the past decade. Chief Justice George commented on the one other discussion item in the agenda, the transfer of 532 court facilities to state responsibility. The completion of these transfers has been characterized as one of the largest real estate transactions in California history and a remarkable achievement….
Item 2 Judicial Council–sponsored Legislation: New Long Beach Courthouse: Possessory Property Tax Exemption (amend Gov. Code, § 70391.5) The Policy Coordination and Liaison Committee recommended amending Government Code section 70391.5 to provide that any possessory interest that may arise from a lease or other agreement with a nongovernmental entity for delivery of the new Long Beach Courthouse be deemed public property and exempt from tax that would attach if it were deemed a private entity having a possessory interest in public property.
Judicial Council Watcher
July 17, 2015
We have determined that we have judicial administrative records responsive to portions of your request below.
Our subject matter experts are engaged in compiling and preparing materials responsive to your request. We estimate being able to provide you with copies of available records on or around July 17, 2015.
Thank you for your interest in the judicial branch.
Public Access to Administrative Records
Court Operations Services | Operations and Programs Division
Judicial Council of California
455 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102-3688
pubinfo@jud.ca.gov | http://www.courts.ca.gov
anonymous
July 17, 2015
We have determined that we have judicial administrative records responsive to portions of your request below….. all other answers will be the Judicial Council’s version of pleading the 5th. “That is not a request for a public record” “That was a deliberative process” etc, etc.
Bring on the auditors.
Judicial Council Watcher
July 17, 2015
Your request was reviewed pursuant to California Rules of Court, rule 10.500, “public access to judicial administrative records.” Please find the enclosed documents responsive to question #1 of your recent request.
Subject matter experts are engaged in compiling and preparing materials responsive to the remainder of your request. Such documents will be released as available.
They’re going to stonewall until after August 4th on the remaining questions?
unionman575
July 17, 2015
Yep.
sharonkramer
July 17, 2015
It makes sad when I think of all the lives being devastated by those who are to protect their rights, playing self-serving games. Keep turning up the heat, JCW. Boo Rah to you!