The Boston Convention and Exhibition Center's main entrance on Congress Street. Photo by James Sanna | Banker & Tradesman Staff / file
Previous leaders of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority “cherry-picked when it was convenient or not convenient” to follow state law and internal policies related to public records, procurement and settlement agreements, Auditor Diana DiZoglio said Monday.
DiZoglio’s office published a 45-page report about an audit it conducted at the MCCA, which found numerous issues with policies and practices in place at the state agency that owns and operates the Hynes Convention Center, the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, the MassMutual Center in Springfield and the Lawn on D.
The audit covered Jan. 1, 2021 through Dec. 31, 2022, and extended back through Jan. 1, 2018 to examine procurement and employee complaint practices.
Auditors said the agency in that span could not prove that it obtained sufficient quotes for several purchases, did not follow procurement policies for a media contract worth more than $100,000, struck vendor contracts without board approval, executed a pricey employee settlement without board approval, and more.
“Our audit found that, under prior leadership, the Convention Center cherry-picked when it was convenient or not convenient to follow public records law, Chapter 30b, alongside its own policies and procedures with regard to state procurement and contracting,” DiZoglio said in a statement. “Deeply troubling is also the fact that prior leadership violated the law in executing a $1.2 million non-disclosure agreement – concealing allegations of racial discrimination.”
DiZoglio’s office wrote that auditors made “several observations that raised concerns regarding potential violations of different state laws,” which they referred to other agencies for additional investigation and “potential enforcement,” including the attorney general’s office and the State Ethics Commission.
In response to several points, MCCA officials said they agree with the findings and believe previous agency leadership did not appropriately follow procedures. A media consultant contract that led to more than half a million dollars in spending “was pursued as a sole source procurement by the MCCA’s prior executive director without the involvement of the procurement department,” the MCCA wrote in its audit response.
The “prior executive director” referenced in the report was David Gibbons, who began the job under Gov. Charlie Baker in 2015 and resigned last year after a series of controversies, including an allegedly opaque process of selecting a developer for state-owned land in South Boston.
DiZoglio in her statement thanked the MCCA’s interim executive director, Gloria Cordes Larson, “for working alongside our audit team to immediately begin addressing these and other very concerning issues identified in the report.”
