I agreed with almost everything in this post the other day on Refuse the Juice.
A bidder on a construction project evidently did not quote a number on a line item. On a bid this should disqualify the bidder.
According to the post, city staff recommended awarding the bid to the bidder anyway. The bidder with the lowest complete bid filed a protest. The item was pulled from the city council agenda.
Do over
Now it seems that the city is going to start over and rebid the project. Of course the new bids will be made after looking to see what everyone bid before.
This is unfair. I know many El Paso businesses that do not even bother to bid for city business because of things like this.
Where we part
The post went on to say:
None of this crap was going on with construction bids until Mayor Leeser took office.
I cannot agree. This kind of thing has been going on for a long time.
I don’t know whether the Mayor got involved with this bid or not.
I do know that the purchasing function at the city often is unfair.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
I’ll agree that purchasing at the city has had it’s problems for a long time before Leeser got there. However, I would say specifically in the construction bidding process things have gotten much worse – or just flat out insane. Never have they rebid so many projects. You can look – it never happened before. The county used to pull this crap – the would rebid until the “right company” won.
I think it’s time a third party with some skin in the game start handling the process.
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David,
What did you have in mind when you wrote “I think it’s time a third party with some skin in the game start handling the process”?
Brutus
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An independent off-site company that receives the bids, opens them, checks them for accuracy and recommends award. “skin i the game” means that if they screw up they lose their contract – i.e. money. As it is now, the city employees handling this process can screw up every single bid and not face any discipline. There’s no incentive to do a good job.
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David,
If someone having the risk of losing “income” is the solution, it’s not necessary to pay a third-party to manage the process. You simply fire city employees who do not perform. It’s that simple. Let’s fix the root problem. If city management is unwilling to hold its own staff accountable, then you fire city management and their staff. The odds of city council and management holding a third-part accountable are not really any better. In fact, all that does is add another level of potential conflict — i.e., the third-party contractors who make political donations to council member campaigns. Adding yet another layer of cost on top of the city staff costs is an unnecessary expense to taxpayers. You’re a smart guy, but it seems like you have possibly drunk too much of the Washington, DC water.
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You can’t fire city employees and they know it. Civil Service makes it almost impossible. That’s not a solution.
We use all kinds of third party verification services in government… hell the only thing that works in government is the stuff they farm out to private corporations. Privatize the bid selection and you’ll be much happier with how things turn out. Another government worker is not the answer.
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What is a “third party with some skin in the game”? I love how you blame this on a guy who has been in office a matter of months. For some reason, you never seem to hold the City Manager responsible for the problems on her watch.
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I don’t blame it on the mayor. I’m saying it started at the time he took office. Please read what I wrote so that you’re clear. The city manager has been there for 9 years prior to this and these types of rebids never happened before, so I can’t blame her. If anything the process was much better after she took over in the beginning. She put people in charge that weren’t blood related to the bidders.
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So you’re not blaming the mayor. Same city manager. Same administration except for a few reps and assistants. Ms. Wilson did a great job in the 9 years before we got a new mayor. Now it’s some else’s fault. Hmmm.
I don’t read your blog. Brutus makes his points with a few well-chosen words and encourages civil discourse in the comment section.
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How many names are you posting under? I supposed “FedUp” didnt’ read my blog – why would you have to answer that unless you are also posting as FedUp?
I’m not saying it’s not the city manager’s fault nor am I saying that it’s not the mayor’s fault. What I do know is that the problem started in the middle of the summer. What happened in the middle of the summer?
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Mr K — How many names am I posting under? I am posting under one name, balmorhea. Back off and take a deep breath. You’re not making sense.
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Okay, but if the process got better when Wilson first took over and now it’s getting worse again, one can only conclude that either (a) she has her eye on the exit door and has lost interest in doing her job, or (b) she herself is okay with the ways of the current people SHE helped to put in those positions on her watch. She still holds her position, so if there is a staffing and process issue, it is of her own making. She didn’t have any second thoughts about helping to steer the stadium work to Pablo.
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Purchasing falls under our chief financial officer.
Having confidence in what she says is more of a stretch than I can make.
Brutus
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Buck stops at Wilson. No doubt. However, I’m not sure where the new rules are coming from. They have moved so many people around and there’s a new mayor and I’m just not sure what moving part caused this. Obviously Wilson will have to fix it or she’ll be gone – but then again – she’s gone anyway.
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We saw in the TORA emails that MS was effectively downloading orders to Wilson who put them directly onto the CC agenda for enactment. So this practice predates Leeser. Decide-Enact-Defend. The El Paso Way.
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