$8.6 MILLION

CONTRACT.

LA County's Justice Care and Opportunities Department entered into an illegal sole source contract with surveillance giant Accenture. Now, 12 high-paid consultants with ties to police and ICE are working behind closed doors to design the system that determines how people and families are treated before trial.

Community organizations and experts already crafted a #CareFirst pretrial strategy to create alternatives to incarceration. There's no justification for throwing away that work and paying millions to a global consulting company with expertise in implementing and expanding surveillance, predictive policing, and crowd control. As LAC reneged on the promises of the Care First, Jails Last vision, it signed an illegal contract with a surveillance consulting firm, Accenture, which will only exacerbate the crisis. The bloated, illegal contract with Accenture includes at least:

$1.56 million for 6 months of strategic planning

$2.85 million for 18 months of pilots in up to 8 locations

$4 million to support Accenture subcontracts with community based organizations or Accenture staff, with no incentives for the former.

WHY IS THE COUNTY PAYING THEM $8.6M TO DEVELOP A COMMUNITY-BASED PRETRIAL SYSTEM?

On March 10, 2020, LA County adopted 114 recommendations in the Care First, Jails Last roadmap - which calls for an independent pretrial support agency situated outside of police agencies to “coordinate voluntary needs and strengths assessments expeditiously upon booking, and to follow a community-based” services model.

A new unit, now called JCOD, stood up expert committees of county officials, service providers, and community leaders. But now it looks like the ATI Subcommittee of the Public Safety Realignment, Care First Community Advisory Body (2021 and 2022 Spending Plan), ATI Community Cabinet, and ATI Implementation Team were merely to warm Accenture’s seat. Now, Accenture will undo their work.

"Care First, Jails Last" blog by Bob Ross, California Endowment

TAXPAYER DOLLARS: $8.6M

Source: Care First Community Investment Funds

According to the contract, at least a significant portion of Accenture staff time is paid for with CFCI funding created by the passage of Measure J in July 2020 to “address the disproportionate impact of racial injustice through community investment and alternatives to incarceration and prohibit[ ] using those funds for carceral systems and law enforcement agencies.”

JCOD Agreement: Sole Source Agreement

The contract waived the "County’s standard open competitive solicitation or bidding requirements, the County’s Sole Source Policy, and other County standard terms and conditions for contracting." (Recital Page 1)

Spending committment: Cost of Accenture staff

The hourly rate for an Accenture Project Manager is higher than the top elected officials in LA County.

hourly rates

FIRST 7 WEEKS: $525,525

Kick off meeting $28,665

1 powerpoint and one meeting with JCOD leadership

Baseline project schedule $19,110

1 powerpoint and 1 meeting with JCOD leadership

Project management plan $47,775

1 word doc of project methodology, communication, deliverables

Current state description $286,000

1 powerpoint with draft interview questions and up to 15 interviews 5 focus groups with stakeholders that do not include justice-involved people as relevant for input.

Weekly project status $95,550

1-slide powerpoint provided weekly to update JCOD on the project progress on a weekly basis

Pretrial quick wins $47,775

A “log” Accenture will maintain of potential quick wins.

NEXT 12 WEEKS: $429,975

Target state journey maps $143,325

1 powerpoint tracking how they want the experience to look for 14 key “personas” who are stakeholders in the system

Target operating model $286,650

1 powerpoint that defines JCOD’s mission, and a blueprint for the new pretrial services model.

Defined and prioritized pretrial initiatives $156,000

1 powerpoint that details each proposed new initiative and who is responsible for it.

Comms strategy and plan $312,000

1 word doc with stakeholder plan and Excel with comms channels

Project Roadmap $312,00

1 powerpoint (with supporting Excel) outlining the “implementation roadmap.”

“The message keeps getting out police are systemically racist. And it's just not true... The past couple of years have been bad for those [police] men and women, and there's gotta be big investment in leadership, in equipment, in training, anything they need.

And it's got to come not only from the superintendent, but it's got to come from the mayor, it's got to come from the state's attorney and it's got to come from the judges.

- 2023, Jodi Weiss

JODI WEISS

ACCENTURE ADVISOR: LAC COMMUNITY-BASED PRETRIAL SYSTEM

FORMERLY: FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE OF LA; CHIEF OF POLICE, CHICAGO

WHO PAYS THE PRICE

Deaths inside the County Jail System are happening at an all time high, even after the county has promised to close the jail and reinvest resources away from it. As the County continues to renege on those promises, they have instead worked behind closed doors with a cynical company that will only exacerbate the crisis.

ONE PERSON: ONE YEAR

Cost to jail someone in the system where five people died last month.

ONE PERSON: ONE DAY

Cost to jail someone in High and Moderate Observation Housing at Twin Towers.

6 MONTHS OF PRETRIAL STRATEGY AND PLANING

This includes a $286,000 PowerPoint on how judges, sheriffs, and probation officers want their experience of the pretrial system to look after interviews with Accenture.

18 MONTHS OF PRETRIAL PILOTS IN 8 LOCATIONS

The contract also includes $4 million set aside for community groups or Accenture staff. But there are no incentives to encourage the former. What do you think Accenture will choose?

THE CONTRACT IS ILLEGAL

On March 11th, 2024, Civil Rights Corps (CRC), a national civil rights organization dedicated to challenging systemic injustice, put Los Angeles County on notice about its illegal contract with surveillance giant Accenture.

According to CRC, the contract is illegal for the following reasons:

Unlawful circumvention of competitive bidding process
Even if the County were legally allowed to grant exemptions to the public bidding process, the Accenture contract SIGNIFICANTLY exceeds the new limits they carved out in various motions.
The contract is a gross misuse of Measure J funds.

Read the full legal analysis in CRC's open letter to the County.

On June 14th, Accenture presented the team members. A five person Advisory Panel include Accenture leaders provided to contribute “justice expertise.” A seven person Project Team will implement all activities. Not pictured: Matt Branco, Project Manager.

To learn more about the consultants: read our Accenture Advisory Panel memo here.