Emails and documents obtained by PublicSource through Right-to-Know Law [RTK] requests show Pittsburgh Public Schools [PPS] submitting fact sheets, answering questions and providing other detailed information about the district to the local officials that compiled Pittsburgh’s bid. The emails suggest that the district sent its information to the nonprofit Allegheny Conference on Community Development, whose subsidiary, PGHQ2, served as the vehicle for submitting the region’s bid.
The information PPS contributed to the Amazon bid came in two batches: One in early October when city, county and conference officials were compiling the original bid and another in early February when they were asked to answer several detailed questions from Amazon as part of the finalist round.
Perhaps most significantly, PPS Superintendent Anthony Hamlet signed a non-disclosure agreement [NDA] with Amazon that gives the company the “indefinite” right to sue Hamlet and PPS if its “confidential information” is released without prior approval. The NDA, signed in March after Pittsburgh had made Amazon’s list of top-20 finalists, bars Hamlet and all other PPS employees from releasing what Amazon deems “confidential information” for three years. After three years, the NDA automatically renews, though if the NDA is terminated, its provisions stay in place for an additional five years.
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