By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org
Yet another audit of Broward Sheriff “Dr.” Gregory Tony’s extravagant new “training center” at BSO headquarters has uncovered more than $1.4 million in apparent overpayments made to ANF Group Inc., the builder which was also a large donor to Tony’s political action committee.
The audit, released in October to little notice, examined the contract between Sheriff Tony and Davie-based ANF Group for the design and construction of the training center – as well as related billing files, change orders and job cost records – to verify that the contract sum was not overbilled and that reimbursable costs billed to BSO were proper under the terms of the contract.
Due to the “unique and complex nature of construction project agreements and invoicing practices,” County Auditor Robert Melton informed the county commission that he hired a specialized outside auditor, Hoar Program Management (HPM) of Birmingham, AL. The audit period was from Feb. 18, 2021, the day the contract was signed, through February 2024. More audits will follow.
The contract between the sheriff and ANF Group included what’s known as a Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP), a limit on the amount the owner pays a contractor for construction work. The GMP was $49.65 million. But as of Feb. 29, 2024, 65 change orders were executed between BSO and ANF, with a net value of $6.1 million, increasing the GMP to its current value nearly $55.8 million, the audit says
HPM’s audit identified a “potential” GMP overbilling of $836,977 and potential cost exceptions, including the overbilling, that totals $1,453,027. HPM identified two types of disallowed costs: “adjustments” to GMP due to change orders that overrepresented the cost to make the changes and “cost exception,” that is costs that should not have been charged to the project.
Examples detailed in the audit disclosed excessive mark-ups for bonds on change orders and insurance costs, as well as for excessive wages for electrical work paid at $95 an hour when prevailing costs were $61 per hour.
“We concur with HPM’s assessment, and as applicable, recommend recovery of all identified amounts,” Melton said in an Oct. 31 letter to the commission that accompanied the audit report
ANF GROUP DONATES $30K TO TONY’S PAC
Not mentioned in the audit or in Melton’s letter are substantial campaign contributions made by ANF Group to Sheriff Tony’s political committee, Broward First. On Jan. 11, 2021, a month before the lucrative contract was signed, ANF Group wrote a $5,000 check to Broward First. (Project architect Saltz Michelson sent Tony’s PAC a $1,000 check the same day.) On June 20, 2023, three months after ANF Group announced it had “topped out” the building, the company sent Broward First another $25,000.
The training center, opened in July as the more floridly named Research, Development and Training Center, was conceived in the wake of the horrific mass murder at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. The following December, Broward County signed a memo of understanding (MOU) with Sheriff Tony providing that “The Sheriff shall be fully responsible for Project management and will enter into all contracts relating to the Project…” The finished building, however, would be owned by the county, for use by BSO.
Tony’s takeover of the project was unusual. Equally unusual was the county commission’s decision to turn over control of a multi-million-dollar project to a fledgling sheriff with no formal training in finance or construction and less than a year of on-the-job experience – a decision commissioners have since said they regret. Prior to being tapped by Gov. Ron DeSantis to become sheriff in January 2019, Tony had been a police sergeant in Coral Springs and ran his own small emergency training business. He’s faced numerous public controversies since and is currently awaiting a Feb. 6 hearing before the state police standards board on whether he should lose his license to be a police officer for lying.
Under Tony’s personal management the training center’s cost quickly ballooned. Originally estimated to be a $34 million job it more than doubled to at least $73.7 million by the time County Auditor Melton released his office’s first audit of the training center last August. The audit was done to determine if the project funding was adequate to meet its anticipated costs – but a funding shortfall of $9.2 million was found that unnerved the commission.
Among other things, the audit cited “excessive branding” throughout the new building. The name Gregory Tony, who obtained a PHD in criminal justice from Nova Southeastern University in June, is apparently plastered all over the place.
Under the MOU, the county had provided initial funding of $31.2 million. Through subsequent budget transfers, the county kicked in an additional $22.3 million. That $55.5 million does not include any additional payments made by BSO, the audit says.
ANF GROUP DENIES WRONGDOING
ANF Group was one of three vendors shortlisted by BSO for the job in June 2020. A shortlist award recommendation sheet shows Its proposed price was higher than Moss and Associates LLC and The Weitz Company LLC – while not including the actual price proposals – but was nevertheless ranked highest by the three-person selection committee – composed of two BSO employees and one county representative – because of a favorable evaluation of the firm’s financial stability and litigation history.
ANF filed a detailed response objecting to HPM’s audit findings and offering a warning.
“The purported overstatement and cost exceptions identified and raised by HPM are incorrect and inconsistent with the provisions set forth in the contract,” the company wrote. “ANF respectfully request that HPM’s report be revised accordingly and set forth an overall result as provided below. In the event that the contract documents (similar to the one that is currently written) the reputational harm to ANF, which ANF has worked over 43 years to establish, will be insurmountable and may result In certain liabilities owed by HPM and Broward County to ANF for causing such harm and distributing correct information.’’
HPM’s response was brief: “Reviewing ANF’s response does not change HPM’s position on the original audit issues.”
Likewise, Assistant Broward County Administrator Michael Ruiz wrote in an Oct. 24 memo to County Auditor Melton, “In summary, Management agrees with the Auditor’s support of the third-party auditor’s findings (Hoar Program Management LLC) and its recommendation that Broward County work with the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO) in an attempt to recover potentially ineligible costs and overpayments.”
Melton said Wednesday that he was unaware of any actual steps the county or BSO may have taken to recover public monies wrongly paid to ANF Group.
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