LA commissioner lobbied CAO to support his company’s $3 million COVID-19 testing contract

An embattled Los Angeles fire and police pensions commissioner who has rejected allegations that he improperly lobbied city officials to approve a $3 million COVID-19 testing contract for his company pitched his proposal directly to City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo, who signed off on the no-bid contract in September.

Dr. Pedram Salimpour, a member of the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions board since 2013, has repeatedly maintained he wasn’t engaged in the review or vetting process for the testing contract awarded to PPS Health Inc., which does business as Bluestone Safe. However, more than a dozen emails obtained by the Southern California News Group paint a different picture of Salimpour’s efforts to win the contract for Bluestone.

The emails from March 2020 to November 2021 show Salimpour requested a face-to-face meeting with Szabo, who offered to put him in touch with officials at the Los Angeles Personnel Department, the city agency charged with selecting a vendor for the COVID-19 testing contract.

The email exchanges between Salimpour and Szabo portray a troubling pattern of influence peddling, alleged Craig Lally, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which has previously complained about Salimpour’s efforts to lobby Mayor Eric Garcetti on behalf of his company.

“These emails confirm our worst suspicions that the city rolled out the red carpet for pension Commissioner Pedram Salimpour’s Bluestone testing start-up and the city provided him an advantage over much more experienced COVID-19 testing vendors,” Lally said in a statement. “Despite his and the city’s denials, Salimpour was not just engaged in the procurement process, he was knee deep in it.”

Denies allegations

Salimpour denies those allegations. “The allegations from the Los Angles Police Protective League are simply false,” said a spokesperson for Bluestone. “Dr. Pedram Salimpour complied with all ethics rules.”

Additionally, officials with Garcetti’s office and the city’s Personnel Department said there was no favoritism in selecting Bluestone.

“This contract was awarded transparently, and in accordance with the normal procedure,” said Garcetti’s press secretary, Harrison Wollman. “Seven vendors were vetted to meet the needs outlined in the (city) council resolution, and Bluestone was selected based on an objective set of criteria, No vendor was treated differently than any other during the process.”

Bruce Whidden, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Personnel Department, echoed those comments. “No one from the personnel department had any contact with Commissioner Pedram Salimpour during the selection process that resulted in the contract with Bluestone,” he said.

Szabo did not reply to a request for comment.

Police union demands probe

The Los Angeles Police Protective League is suing the city and demanding an investigation, alleging it failed to disclose that Salimpour owns a portion of Bluestone along with his brother, Dr. Pejman Salimpour.

The lawsuit seeks to block the city from continuing to use Bluestone for mandated twice-per-week COVID-19 testing of unvaccinated employees that began Nov. 18. It also requests reimbursements for workers who are required to pay $65 per test through payroll deductions. Separately, the union has filed a complaint against Salimpour with the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission.

Vetting the vendors

The Los Angeles Personnel Department said it vetted seven vendors with vaccine and testing tracking services before awarding the no-bid, emergency contract to Bluestone. With the exception of Bluestone, the other vendors were not identified.

Bluestone was the only company that offered a variety of services at a competitive rate, including vaccine card verification, daily symptom monitoring, a PCR saliva test, vaccine exemptions submission and tracking, and health services counseling, according to the Personnel Department.

Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions, which manages more than $30 billion in assets and administers retirement and health benefits for nearly 27,000 current and retired public safety employees and their beneficiaries, has backed Salimpour’s claim that he didn’t influence the contract selection process.

Salimpour sent a pair of emails on May 6 to Szabo effusively praising him for his nomination by Garcetti to the chief administrative officer post.

“You’re so young for all this success!!!,” he wrote. “You should be very very proud. Take a minute and enjoy it. I know you live in LA so maybe you’re used to this. but this is bigger than most countries, certainly bigger than most corporations in the world. This is a HUGE deal!!! You clearly worked your butt off. Now take a minute and celebrate!!!”

A flurry of messages

There was also a flurry of communications between Salimpour and Szabo on the evening of  Aug. 5, hours after Los Angeles City Hall had closed for the day.

“I would love to chat with you and take you through everything we do and how we do it if you have a few minutes,” Salimpour wrote to Szabo, who as CAO controls the budget strings for the city of Los Angeles.

Szabo responded less than an hour later. “Pedram I’d like to set up time, tomorrow if possible, for us to speak with the point in the personnel department for vax data collection,” he replied in an email.

The next day Salimpour emailed Szabo confirming he had been in touch with Grayce Liu, an assistant general manager in the Personnel Department. “Cannot thank you enough,” he wrote. “Thanks again for everything, as always.”

Salimpour provided Szabo a progress report on Aug. 18, regarding Bluestone’s discussions with the city and made a final pitch for the company.

“I think we’re good on pricing — we have made the concessions required to bring us in line (or below) all of the competitors,” he wrote in an email. “We are a local company and would LOVE to be a part of the solution for the city.”

The emails bolster’s the union’s belief that Salimpour, despite his denials, was heavily involved in securing the COVID-19 testing contract for Bluestone, but leaves many questions unanswered, Lally said.

“His wheeling, dealing and schmoozing paved the way to securing a no-bid $3M dollar taxpayer funded testing contract, even though Bluestone does not own a COVID testing lab and does not produce the testing kits,” Lally said. “We have serious concerns as to why the general manager of the $30 billion fire and police pension fund would deny commissioner Salimpour’s involvement in what appears to be a back-room deal and it begs the question as to what else may be hidden or covered-up about this shady deal.”