Highlights

• A recent investigation into contract work done at a local elementary school revealed that the business that performed the work didn't have the right state certifications.
• The state licensing board for contractors did a deeper dive into the controversy and discovered that two bids for the same work were forged.
• LPSS issued a statement promising an internal investigation and to turn over any findings to the state's legislative auditor's office.
• Superintendent Francis Touchet also said the district might also turn any findings over to law enforcement.

Lafayette Parish School System Investigation Reveals Forged Contractor Bids, Licensing Violations

The Lafayette Parish School System awarded a contract to a business that didn't have the proper state certification, but an investigation revealed more problematic issues.

LAFAYETTE, La. (KPEL News) — Lafayette Parish school superintendent Francis Touchet is promising an internal investigation after a state investigation revealed forged bids and violations in bid recipient qualifications.

The growing scandal, which stems from an investigation into a bid awarded to Bosco Oilfield Services for work done at Charles Burke Elementary, goes much deeper than originally reported. Bosco, as covered by The Current last month, has never been licensed by the state for construction work.

But the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors, which began investigating the situation, uncovered something far more problematic for LPSS. Namely, two bids that were submitted for the work may have been forged.

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Not Licensed for Construction in Louisiana

Bosco Oilfield Services was awarded the bid for work at Charles Burke Elementary, allegedly over two other bids submitted by Siema Construction and Clements Construction. Like Bosco, both companies do not have the proper licensing with the state to perform construction work as defined by state regulations.

In their report on the scandal, the state board for contractors stated that both companies denied submitting a bid for the work.

The owner of Clements Construction, according to the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors letter to LPSS, "adamantly stated that he had not submitted a bid proposal for that project."

The president of Siema Construction, meanwhile, said his company had not submitted a bid and even pointed out that the formatting of the bid that was allegedly submitted to LPSS was not formatted the way his company formats these proposals, including ones submitted to LPSS for other work.

Superintendent Francis Touchet Responds

In an interview with Acadiana's Morning News on NewsTalk 96.5 KPEL, LPSS Superintendent Francis Touchet said he was "troubled" by the allegations of forged documents.

"It's the forged documents that really troubled me," Touchet said in the interview.

However, Touchet maintained that no actual construction was performed at Burke, stating that the problem was with sinkholes and pipes.

"It was sinkholes," he explained. "I mean, you have two pipes that were not properly secured in the middle. They split apart, we had to dig it up, we had to bring it back together, we had to reseal it and put dirt over it. That is the extent of the work that was done."

"We had sinkholes that were in various areas in the playground area," he added. "We couldn't have kids out there, and we had to make sure that we took care of that."

Should Law Enforcement Get Involved?

While Touchet did promise to turn the findings of the LPSS administration over to the Louisiana Legislative Auditor, there was no talk initially of turning anything over to law enforcement until he was pressed on it during the morning interview.

When asked if it was also a matter to be turned over to law enforcement, Touchet said that option was under consideration.

"We're going to turn everything over to either the legislative auditor," he said. "Or, if we see that there is criminal action that is taking place, we're going to turn it over to local law enforcement."

SEE ALSO:

• LPSS Investigating Viral Video of Teacher Slapping Student
• Dad 'Not Aware' Son Struck by LPSS Teacher Until Clip Went Viral

Who at LPSS Could Have Forged the Bids?

While the superintendent could not say who, if anyone, was suspected of submitting the forged bids, his comments seemed to indicate it could be an (as of now) unnamed employee.

"If it spells out that it's a former employee, I can't name that particular person because of confidentiality, but we will call it out," Touchet said. "Because we had a lot of different individuals that were part of our system that are no longer in our system that when this particular project was actually going through, that they had their hands on it."

He gave no particulars, but he did reference individuals who were no longer working for LPSS who could have had a hand in the process. However, it's not just this process that could be impacted.

Does LPSS Have a Systemic Problem?

According to Touchet, there are 500 projects that went through the bid process, and LPSS will be investigating all of them.

"Well, we're going to go through all of the other 500," he stated.

That likely means the LPSS investigation will take months as they look through all the bids that have been submitted over the years to see what individuals were involved in the forgeries. And while LPSS says they will turn over any findings to the Louisiana Legislative Auditor if its investigation turns up anything, the state licensing board isn't waiting.

"With the LPSS being a public agency, you can understand why a state regulatory agency such as the LSLBC would be concerned about the allegation of false records being provided to us during the course of an investigation," the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors letter to LPSS stated. "We have notified the Louisiana Legislative Auditor, as is required in these circumstances, of the complaint we investigated and our findings to include the allegations of forged documents."

While the Louisiana Legislative Auditor has not publicly stated if it has launched an investigation, the extremely serious nature of the allegations makes it all but certain LPSS is on its radar.