Jacksonville Democrat Mayor Awards $300K No-Bid Contract to Firm that Backed Her Campaign

Jacksonville, Florida, Mayor Donna Deegan (D) is facing questions after she awarded a no-bid contract worth $300,000 to a firm whose president not only donated to her campaign, but hosted an event for her at his home this year.

The Democrat mayor’s deal was exposed in a Wednesday Florida Times-Union report, revealing that the city’s Professional Services Evaluation Committee recommended Deegan approve a year-long contract with Langton Consulting without seeking proposals from any other firms, despite the city typically requiring “competitive bidding.”

The contract, which is for federal grant writing, lobbying, and policy development, was recommended with a unanimous vote after Deegan’s office said its research showed Langton Consulting is the only firm in the country that offered those services in a contract.

City Councilmember Nick Howland said this justification “just smells odd to me.”

Langton Consulting President Mike Langton and his wife, Laura, hosted a campaign event for Deegan in their home in January. In April, the firm contributed $2,500 to the Donna for Duval PAC before the mayor’s win over Daniel Davis (R).

I couldn’t be more grateful for the support we are receiving from people across Jacksonville who believe in #changeforgood. Thanks to Laura and Mike Langton for welcoming us into their beautiful house on the river – one of the oldest homes in Jacksonville! pic.twitter.com/mxv5Aa6j7o

— Donna Deegan (@DonnaDeegan) January 28, 2023

However, the city is denying any wrongdoing by arguing that the contract was not awarded to be “transactional.”

“Mayor Deegan has said repeatedly that she is not transactional,” city spokesman Phillip Perry said. “Thousands of people across the city and all walks of life donated to her campaign because they believed in her vision for Jacksonville, not because they expected something in return.”

“Bringing down more grant dollars and getting our tax dollars back is one of Mayor Deegan’s highest priorities,” Perry said. “With grant deadlines fast approaching, the administration needed to get this critical work started so that we don’t leave money on the table.”

Even more head-turning is the fact that Langton Consulting is not actually registered to lobby at the city, state, or federal levels, despite the service being a major portion of the contract. As the local outlet reported, “Langton will use Becker & Poliakoff, a firm based in Washington that has Florida offices in 11 cities, to handle the lobbying part of the contract.”

According to Howland, who chairs the city’s Finance Committee, there are multiple firms in the Jacksonville area, as well as more around the state and even nationwide, that could have competed with Langton for the contract. 

“I’m looking at it from a fiscal responsibility perspective,” he said. “Are we getting the best bang for our buck?”

Even if the city couldn’t hold a proper bidding competition in time to meet upcoming grant deadlines, they could’ve awarded the contract on a month-by-month basis while opening up the floor to other firms, Howland added.

Reporter David Bauerlein recalled how the mayor even “made winning grants for city initiatives part of her campaign message,” stating, “She said Jacksonville had been leaving hundreds of millions of dollars on the table. One of her biggest priorities as mayor is resiliency, a costly endeavor for making the city more resistant to the impact of climate change.”

Langton, a longtime supporter of the Democrat party along with his wife, served in the state House of Representatives from 1985 to 1992 and founded his consulting firm in 1981.

The report noted:

Langton Consulting has worked in the past on city projects, most notably when it helped secure about $11 million in federal grants and state appropriations between 2013 and 2017 to keep the St. Johns River Ferry service running until the Jacksonville Transportation Authority agreed to take over its operation.

When Deegan’s reign as Jacksonville mayor began on July 1, her administration ended the city’s contracts with Ballard Partners for state and federal lobbying within the month. According to the Times-Union, there may be a reason for that beyond what meets the eye:

The managing partner of the Jacksonville office of Ballard Partners is Jordan Elsbury, who was chief of staff for Mayor Lenny Curry. Ballard Partners, which is a national firm, also hired Curry after his term as mayor ended. Elsbury and Curry supported Daniel Davis in the race for mayor.

City ordinances state that the government is prohibited from avoiding the competitive bidding process if there is “more than one potential source” who could provide the sought-after services, but a Deegan administration official justified the no-bid contract.

Deegan’s director of Intergovernmental Affairs, Brittany Norris, reportedly wrote on August 28 to the chief of Procurement, Dustin Freeman, that Langton Consulting has the “unique ability” to provide the three main services needed.

Norris wrote: 

Given the unique requirements of these three disciplines and the one-of-a-kind nature of this bundle, Langton Consulting is providing a type of full service for which a comparable offering is not available from any consulting firm, lobbying group, grant writing company, or other government relations company in Florida or elsewhere in the country.

The Procurement Division’s form justifying the contract also asserted that a “comparable offering” to Langton’s was not available anywhere in the country, basing this assertion on “exhaustive market research online through various Google searches and databases.”

Despite its supposedly “exhaustive” Google searching, the Times-Union was able to find multiple other area firms that not only provide federal lobbying, but grant-writing services, as well. 

“Perry said the difference between other firms and Langton Consulting is that Langton will provide policy development along with grant writing and federal lobbying,” the outlet noted.