Inspector general finds bid-rigging by CPS technology vendors

Two technology vendors coordinated purchases at Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to bypass competitive bidding rules, securing contracts worth more than $677,000. 

That’s according to the Fiscal Year 2025 annual report from the Office of Inspector General for the Chicago Board of Education.

The report, issued by Inspector General Philip Wagenknecht, summarizes cases drawn from more than 1,200 complaints filed between July 2024 and June 2025 in Chicago Public Schools.

According to the OIG, the vendors—identified in the report as Vendors A and B—engaged in bid stringing at CPS schools from fiscal years 2019 through 2023. The practice violated Illinois law, Board rules and CPS policy by structuring purchases to avoid competitive bidding requirements.

Investigators found multiple instances in which schools issued purchase orders to both vendors simultaneously or within a short time frame for similar technology products at identical prices. 

The purchases primarily involved large smartboard devices, along with computers and other electronic equipment. Some orders included identical delivery and installation charges, and one invoice from Vendor A appeared on Vendor B’s letterhead, the report said.

While individual sales to schools often remained just below the $25,000 competitive bidding threshold, combined purchases across both vendors exceeded that limit at least 16 times, totaling $677,773 in improperly structured contracts, according to the OIG.

Bank records and interviews with school clerks documented further coordination between the vendors, including 22 payments totaling $290,018 from Vendor B to Vendor A. 

School staff reported that Vendor A’s owner directed purchases to Vendor B when transactions risked exceeding the bidding threshold.

Both vendors’ owners admitted to splitting purchases to avoid triggering competitive bidding requirements, the report said. 

The OIG recommended that both vendors and their owners be debarred from future CPS contracts, and CPS confirmed it is pursuing the debarment process.

The OIG also recommended additional procurement training for staff at the 12 schools involved. 

While CPS conducted training in summer 2025, staff from one school did not attend, and no additional sessions are currently planned, according to the report.

The OIG, led by Chicago Public Schools Inspector General Philip Wagenknecht, serves as an independent oversight body for approximately 635 CPS district-run, contract, and charter schools. Established in 1996 under the Illinois School Code, it investigates waste, fraud, financial mismanagement, employee misconduct, and contractor or vendor misconduct. It also oversees a Sexual Allegations Unit investigating sexual misconduct by CPS-affiliated adults involving students or minors.