SUBJECT
title
Ratify Canopy Agreement for professional consultant services concerning CareerSource Polk and approve Amendment #1 to Agreement for forensic audit services. (Amendment #1 has a not-to-exceed amount of $115,000, bringing the total not-to-exceed amount for the Canopy Agreement as amended to $310,500.00).
body
DESCRIPTION
On August 25th, 2026, the Florida Department of Commerce and CareerSource Florida issued a Formal Notice of Material Noncompliance, a Required Governance Action, and a Potential Removal for Cause to Polk County concerning the operations of CareerSource Polk. On September 1, 2026, the Board adopted Resolution 2026-097, authorizing deviation from the Polk County Procurement Ordinance and the Polk County Procurement Manual for selection of consultant to independently review the governance and management of CareerSource Polk. Thereafter, Polk County sought to hire a professional consultant to address the noncompliance issues. On September 2nd, 2026, the County and Canopy Management Consulting Group LLC entered into an Agreement for professional consultant services to determine how best to proceed and what actions Polk County needed to take to become compliant. Canopy formulated a scope of work which provided, among other things, a timeline on how the County should respond, an assessment on how the noncompliance issues arose, and a plan on addressing the sustainability of compliance after Polk County responded to the Florida Department of Commerce and CareerSource Florida.
Polk County now wishes to increase the scope of work to include a plan for Canopy to hire a Certified Public Accounting firm as a subconsultant tasked with conducting a 3-year forensic audit of CareerSource Polk. This Amendment expands the scope to provide for the forensic audit. The scope of work for the forensic audit is attached as Attachment A.
Previously, the Agreement had a not to exceed amount of $195,000.00, falling under the $200,000.00 threshold that would have required presenting the Agreement to the Polk County Board of County Commissioners under Polk County Ordinance No. 2026-047. However, the forensic audit will cost $115,000, bringing the total not-to-exceed amount of the Agreement as amended to $310,500.00
RECOMMENDATION
Ratify Canopy Agreement for professional consultant services concerning CareerSource Polk and approve Amendment #1 to Agreement for forensic audit
FISCAL IMPACT
Amendment #1 has a not-to-exceed amount of $115,000, bringing the total not-to-exceed amount for the Canopy Agreement to $310,500.00.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Noah Milov
Assistant County Attorney
863-534-7664