In today’s editorial titled Clarify route for bigger jail, the Coeur d’Alene Press included this line, “Despite assurances to the contrary, the bidding process for jail expansion appears to be crafted to suit the Florida company and its pre-fab approach.”
The Press‘s characterization describes one indicator of bid-rigging , a violation of federal antitrust law.
I do not know how the ‘bid’ language is to be written. But prefabrication usually means more bang for the buck. Fabrication costs are often less. Assembly time is often shorter. We are all aware of the money crunch and the prisoner crunch. We need some answers and some direction.
Prefab has been on This Old House and we have a prefab home builder in Rathdrum. I have no idea how many prefab prison construction firms there are in this country. Hopefully there is more than the one in Florida. If there is more than one then there should be more than a single bidder.
Still politics runs kinda curiously around these parts. The city grossly overpaid for the precast, concrete park police pavilion. Was that project put out to bid or did the work go to some tangentially crone related business?
I think we need to give credit to the county in its search to use our money wisely. Let us hope that it translates into real savings.
Comment by Wallypog — May 3, 2009 @ 7:53 am
Tailoring bid specifications so they can only be met by one vendor is an indicator of bid rigging. The county must be careful not to do that. If the Commissioners visited only one vendor, then came back and wrote the specifications, they are just asking to have the process contested by those who either lose the bid or are precluded from bidding by unjustified, unique specifications that favor one vendor over others. What should happen is that the county’s procurement officer should demand that every single specification in the bid be justified. The objective has to be to make it possible for many competitive bids from qualified vendors to be received. Subversion of the bidding process is an unreasonable restraint of trade.
The precast concrete public safety substation in the park was not put out for competitive bid.
Comment by Bill — May 3, 2009 @ 9:02 am
The substation was also approved without so much as a photograph or a drawing. One might wonder about the pole barn that is to be constructed in city park.
Comment by Susie Snedaker — May 3, 2009 @ 11:20 am