Just when I think I have figured out the extent that our local administrators will go to to circumvent fairness and the law, their wicked (look it up, it means evil or morally wrong) minds come up with another travesty.
The El Paso Independent School District issued a Competitive Sealed Proposal (CSP) #13-106 for iPads, Computer, Telephone and AV (audio visual) parts. Note the word competitive. On the face of it I don’t know of too many vendors that sell products in all of those areas, but maybe the results of the CSP could prove differently.
Twelve vendors responded. That is pretty good until you realize that most of them responded only to a portion of the bid.
What did EPISD do? They awarded the bid to all twelve, even after they found some bidders to be less desirable because of past performance. Preposterous! The stated justification was “to allow the campuses and departments the flexibility to compare and purchase products from several approved vendors based not only on price but availability and lead time” You can see that on the EPISD document here. The explanation is at the bottom of the last page.
This is not competitive bidding, it is a sham. It allows the administrators to buy from their favorites among the twelve with impunity. By definition it is not competitive. It is however devious. By awarding the bid to all twelve proposers, no proposer has anything to complain about. Now staff has a blank check to buy from any of the twelve. Staff is free to pick who they like and eliminate anyone else.
Why does the school board allow this?
The El Paso Times uses a lot of ink writing about the board. They need to look at the managers and staff in our local governments.
Our children deserve better.
elpasospeak 