Investigation of Allegations of Collusion and Misconduct by Presidio Trust Employees

We conducted our investigation in response to a congressional complaint letter from Congresswoman Jackie Speier, U.S. Representative for California’s 14th Congressional District, alleging that Presidio Trust (Trust) employees improperly influenced the Trust’s decisions during the evaluation of proposals to build a cultural facility on the Presidio in San Francisco, CA. Congresswoman Speier requested that we investigate whether any Trust employees engaged in misconduct, the Trust’s bidding process was fair and followed relevant policies and procedures, and the Trust had sufficient safeguards to prevent the alleged misconduct from occurring in future contracting processes.

 

We determined that the allegations against Trust employees were unsubstantiated. We found no evidence any Trust employees improperly influenced the bidding process. The Trust followed its project policies and procedures, published all project documentation on its official website, and sought public input throughout the process. 

 

We briefed Congresswoman Speier on the results of our investigation and referred our findings to the Secretary of the Interior for appropriate action, and to the Trust for information.