Refusethejuice published an article that dealt in part with the contract that we wrote about in The price is, unless it’s more.
City council was to consider a construction contract for San Jacinto Plaza in it’s January 2, 2014 meeting. The city had received three bids, two of which were over $7 million each and one that came in at $4.5 million. The apparent winning bidder is a company that does a lot of work for the city, much of it under no-bid buy-boards that require as much as 4% of our money to be paid to out of town school districts.
We need to remember that tearing down city hall and remodeling buildings in a hurry made concepts like bidding and responsible spending things that would get in the way of the steam roller.
Our article approached the issue from the perspective of the large price difference, the small number of bidders (have local contractors decided that bidding on city business is a waste of time because of favoritism and other things?) and the fact that the proposed contract was not definitive in specifying what was to built and thus the low bidder might be able to get paid more than what was bid.
Refusethejuice wrote about the bid from a different perspective:
“The one bid with Basic IDIQ Inc. being awarded the San Jancinto Plaza construction was deleted by engineering. If you watched council the engineering department representative tried to claim it was a misprint or something like that. Wrong. Basic IDIQ was at $4.5 million while the other two bidder were at $7.5 million plus. This bid was the talk of the contractor world when it became apparent that the city wasn’t going to disqualify Basic IDIQ for totally screwing up their number.
I know what you are saying – “but, but, but David K! If we can save $3 million why not do it?” Because the project can’t be completed for $3 million and the taxpayers will have to pay another $7 million just to fix what they don’t complete. The other two bidders, F.T. James and Venegas Engineering MGMT and Construction, are good constructions companies who serve taxpayers well. They are direct competitors of my parent’s firm and while we would always like to beat them, we know they’ll produce a great product when they win. Their numbers are close to what it costs to do the project. You can trust these guys. They are both in business and successful because they never underbid a project just to get some money in the door.
The real reason the item was jerked was because the contractor community has some real qualms with this Basic IDIQ group. Not only is their bid irresponsible, there’s question on whether or not they have experience doing the type of construction work required in this contract. There’s also another little hiccup in their record with the city.
When Basic IDIQ was doing the El Paso Times building remodel for the city it became apparent to the contracting community that they were NOT complying with the apprenticeship program laws set forth by the federal government. A group of local contractors approached the city to point this out (they were initially pissed at Basic IDIQ’s no bid contract where they performed the work for as much as twice the cost it would have been if it had been competitively bid). Guess what – not only was Basic IDIQ not punished for their infraction (a serious infraction that usually gets you blacklisted for life), but the contractors who brought the situation up to city officials had their business with the city (both present and past) audited down to the fifteenth decimal point and otherwise harassed. Yes, you read that right – the people who pointed out where taxpayers got screwed were then harassed for their concern.
You have to wonder with Basic IDIQ’s documented past indiscretions, lack of experience in this kind of construction work and extremely irresponsible bid why they even made it to the agenda today. You also have to wonder why a cover-up excuse was used for pulling it when it’s well known that the mayor and others have been badgered about awarding the contract.”
Not fair
City council did not have a chance to award the business. Instead city staff asked that the item be deleted from the agenda. The public now knows the dollar amounts bid by the two other companies.
If the $4 million dollar bid was a mistake on the part of the bidder and that the bidder wanted to withdraw the bid why not award the business to the rightful winner?
If what refusethejuice wrote about complaining contractors being subjected to audits turns out to be true then corrective action needs to be taken.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
Always remember(the door companies) how 2 bidders used to get into cahoots with each other and bid Giverment contracts and one bid this company would bid a little higher than than the other and then on the next bid the other would bid a little higher. In other words, one week i get it and the next week you get it. In doing this both could bid high enough to make a killing. Not saying that is what went on here. IDIQ may be out of wack, but maybe the other two bidders are in Cahoots and bid high enough to make IDIQ’s bid look like a misprint ? In this town i would question anything and just because Davidk says the others bidders are “good” companies and IDIQ is bad doesnt mean its so.
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Yep, it seems like David K places a lot of credence in what certain contractors have to say. I was amused by the statement that “…the item was jerked was because the contractor community has some real qualms with this Basic IDIQ group.” So, I guess that verifies that certain contractors have a lot of influence at city hall.
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Bigger question: Why are we remodeling the plaza? Wasn’t it remodeled a few years back and looked just fine with that kitschy plastic alligator and all the panhandlers? The entire downtown district probably pays less property tax to the city than your neighborhood block, so we have been picking up the carrying costs for the investments of the usual sleazoids who have controlled CC for a generation. And now we’re paying even more for Woody World, a city hall, and maybe even artists “lofts” for deadbeats who can’t pay their rent but like to paint (EPISD grads, I assume). I suppose they’ll hang around the newly-remodeled plaza with their easels to create an artsy ambiance, a sort of 100+ degree Montmartre in the desert.
“Oh,” you say, “this is all for the purpose of creating a vibrant downtown that will return its weight in gold as far as taxes go in a few years.” That is the Big Lie. The same group of sleazoids will cry foul as soon as they have to pay any real taxes and then their CAD and CC stooges will go along with the game and we’ll keep spending our money to make their investments pay off.
No matter how nice it looks, downtown will always be a financial liability to the majority of taxpayers here, a trickle-up stream of your money to the Usual Suspects. The city won’t tell you this. If you are wondering why you haven’t seen a revised business case for Woody World, one that includes all the contingent costs, bond interest, plus the revised capital outlay and tax impact over the next 10 years, well keep wondering. It’s probably in the same drawer as the tax abatement contract for The Fountains – you know, the development that was to bring us all new stores and not poach any from current malls.
When do we say, “Enough!” and stop the music so a real free market can emerge based on real costs and opportunity, not on corporate subsidies and tax giveaways and a CC than can’t say, No.”
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Jerry, I think this money is coming from the QOL bond that passed the last election.
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On the ordinance it does say “San Jacinto” which does not answer my question, not like anyone owes me an answer 🙂
We do get to keep the plastic alligator.
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David K said: “The real reason the item was jerked [by city staff] was because the contractor community has some real qualms with this Basic IDIQ group.”
This statement implies that certain contractors are calling the shots at city hall? Certain contractors apparently get to tell city staff which vendors are worthy of consideration.
Stop and think about that.
Talk about the true cost of completion versus the bid price, it’s too bad city staff didn’t “jerk” the bids for the new ballpark in the very beginning.
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Myth 1:
This post is a closer look at the Plaza deal.
This is a slanted look at construction project that is part of a larger strategy to make downtown better. It is but a small part of an effort to make downtown a destination. This entire post is factual like my hemorrhoids being caused by T-bone steak is factual.
Contractors are in control of City Hall.
This cannot be further from the truth. It amuses me that this blog says that the free market must reign – if the free market could be trusted to be honest, there would be no need for government regulation. The truth must be told — the ‘free market” consists of big-money guys who want government-guaranteed profit and preferred lists of “approved” vendors and other such administrative and legislative mechanisms to keep companies besides their own from getting public work. If the little guy gets squeezed, then there’s more left for the “big” guys, who suck up public money like the most popular slut on Texas Street.
Myth 2:
The item was not pulled at contractor request – it was pulled at the request of City staff to provide Council more information given that some members were still in vacation mode on January 2. It was the most responsible thing to do given the magnitude of importance of this project.
Myth 3:
There were no audits of protesting companies. There is plenty of real work to be done; the last thing that City staff needs to do is create busy work. The voters of this City demand a lean and mean government and that’s exactly what they get, to the point that real planning is substituted by “government by crisis.” Which, by the way, is what these “free market” guys want.
Ankle biters beware! Although your right to question and protest your government is sacred, you must get your facts straight. Allowing the echo chamber to feed you innuendos and outright lies posted here demeans you – it is your responsibility to shut down the liars and expose truth, not piss and moan for the sake of pissing and moaning.
Enjoy your city, and get behind those who want to make this the jewel of the southwest. Enough of the “old guard”, who are very happy to continue to treat us like mushrooms, as the old joke says (Google it if you don’t know what that means). Remember – if you want omelettes you must be willing to crack a few eggs.
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