Item 10A on the city council agenda this coming Tuesday asks for permission to buy $250,000 worth of medical supplies for the fire department through a buy board. The backup material indicates the supplies will be adequate for one year and that the vendor, Moore Medical “has a long history of conducting business with the city of El Paso”. That probably is code for we really like doing business with these guys and don’t want to use someone else.
This is another buy board contract where the city is probably not getting the best price it can.
Who says?
The fire department does. The backup material states:
“A solicitation is being prepared by purchasing to advertise to qualified vendors. The solicitation, and subsequent award will allow the EPFD the ability to maintain an estimated (3) year continuity of medical supplies”.
This looks like:
The fire department is buying through a buy board because someone messed up and they do not have time to issue a proper bid before they run out of supplies or they use the buy board so they can pick their favorite vendor.
They want to buy through a buy board even though they plan to issue a bid later.
Why issue a bid later? Someone thinks it is the right thing to do. Our new mayor might actually be right in the middle of this. We will probably get better prices.
Better policy
Direct bidding is almost always a better financial option than buying through a buy board. Yes the purchasing department will have to do more work and the departments will have to work harder to play favorites.
Buying through buy boards was the norm during the past administration. The city can and should purchase through the buy boards if after taking competitive bids the buy board is a better option.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
Actually a bid process is not always the best route for procurement. The vendors on Buy Board were bid winners just to be listed there. Utilizing Buy Board (and other vehicles that all require bidding) saves the expense of managing a competitive bid locally. There is a cost to conducting a bid in terms of man hours, advertising etc.
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Tim, that was certainly what was supposed to happen.
Unfortunately some of the buy boards run a “beauty contest” — is the vendor established, capable, etc. Price can be a very minor component of the analysis. The buy board may pick multiple vendors for the same product or service.
In fact look at this http://www.vendor.buyboard.com/proposal_tabulation_sheets/first_aid_supplies_equip_374-1.pdf
Many times price is expressed as a percentage of discount off the manufacturer’s list price not even a flat price.
The buy board often gets a percentage of each purchase, so they profit from enrolling vendors.
Brutus
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That’s absurd! What does one have to lose by conducting a bid process?
Brutus is 100% correct: “The city can and should purchase through the buy boards if after taking competitive bids the buy board is a better option.” He is also correct about how buy boards often pick multiple vendors for a single product or service, which clearly proves the point that buy boards are not totally focused on price/value.
Did you ever stop to think that the cost to conduct a bid might be easily offset by the cost savings? Since when should we not expect our city employees to be more productive, even if that means a few more man hours? Not all of us enjoy four-day work weeks.
If our city employees weren’t so lazy, more dollars might be spent with local companies, which would benefit our local economy. Our local government employees don’t care because unlike private sector employees, they get to keep their jobs regardless whether they are productive. After all, they are basically a monopoly and they act like one.
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