LAUSD procurement staff to survey vendors about DHS/ICE/CBP ties; assessment framework proposed

The district’s procurement office briefed the Committee of the Whole on May 20 about a vendor disclosure plan tied to a March board resolution that asked LAUSD to use purchasing power to defend immigrant families and human dignity.

Chief Procurement Officer Matthew Friedman described a two‑step process: (1) issue a disclosure survey to all registered district vendors and include a disclosure requirement in future solicitations asking whether a vendor performs work for DHS, ICE or CBP; and (2) evaluate any affirmative responses with public‑record research, vendor‑provided documents and follow‑up discussions. Friedman said staff would assign vendor engagement to one of three tiers (critical/direct engagement, indirect/tangential, or no credible involvement) and separately score the district‑side impact of the contract (statutorily required, student‑impacting but not required, or district discretionary). The staff recommendation would consider mitigation and reasonable alternatives where available and legally permitted.

Procurement staff acknowledged legal constraints. Board members asked how staff would assess reasonable alternatives and account for vendor lock‑in and transition costs; procurement said each vendor/contract requires a fact‑specific analysis and that some enterprise systems would be operationally difficult to replace. Staff said a public dashboard and a contract list would be delivered by third quarter and that the disclosure survey would be issued no later than mid‑June.

What’s next: procurement staff will distribute the survey, collect vendor responses, perform tiered assessments and provide a dashboard and contract list. Staff said non‑response to the disclosure survey will initially be treated as an affirmative signal pending further legal review, but they emphasized they must comply with applicable procurement laws and General Counsel guidance when considering contract restrictions.