Despite the county’s requirement by state law to accept the
lowest and most responsible bid for all public works projects, some
supervisors during Tuesday’s meeting pushed for awarding a contract
that was more than 20 percent higher in cost than the low bid.
Despite the county’s requirement by state law to accept the lowest and most responsible bid for all public works projects, some supervisors during Tuesday’s meeting pushed for awarding a contract that was more than 20 percent higher in cost than the low bid on building a storage shed at the public works yard.
The item, which former supervisor and local builder Don Marcus requested be pulled from the consent agenda, was discussed for nearly 30 minutes due to apparent frustration from supervisors that the bid was awarded to a business in Fresno County.
Supervisors ultimately approved the low bid in a 3-2 vote after the county counsel informed them they would have to either reject all of them or accept the lowest one. Supervisors Anthony Botelho and Jaime De La Cruz were the two dissenting votes.
Supervisors repeatedly have been told from the staff that they must accept the lowest, responsible bid by state law.
“This county is bound to accept the lowest and responsive bid, and it’s a state law – not a county ordinance,” County Counsel Matthew Granger said. “It’s not something the county of San Benito can change.”
The bid of $57,759 by Apco-Ettner Inc. was awarded the contract because of its low bid and passing references. The second-lowest bid was about $70,000 from Marcus Building Systems.
Public Works Administrator Steve Wittry said the department researched the Fresno business and determined they would be responsible enough to handle the project.
The business had “glowing” reviews from its references, Wittry said.
With Wittry’s testimony that the company was responsible, the board had a choice between two decisions: award the contract to Apco-Ettner Inc. or reject all the bids, Granger said.
Wittry also noted that going out for bids again would cost another $10,000 to $15,000.
Botelho expressed the most concern for awarding the bid outside the county.
“Since it’s so close I’m going to lean with a local bid on this,” he said, of the 21 percent differential. “We have to support local business. We have to support local employment – it’s not that far off.”
De La Cruz also displayed a strong displeasure in giving the bid to an outside-the-county business.
“This is hopeless,” he said, shaking his head.
Marcus decided to pull the item from the consent agenda because of a supposed “loophole” the business used in asking for the bid, he said. He contended the company had the lowest bid because it didn’t list all of its sub-contractors that it would use for the construction.
The county, though, doesn’t ask for a full list, so the company didn’t need to list them, Marcus noted.
Marcus realized that supervisors couldn’t reverse the preference order during the meeting, but he wanted to start a discussion re-writing the county’s policy.
Supervisor Reb Monaco asked the county’s staff to bring the discussion on a revised policy back to the board.
