Looking at the request for proposals for ambulance billing services that the city awarded recently, we see from the backup material that only two firms responded. The city had sent the solicitation to three.
Why not bid?
There are many companies that perform the service but for some reason they chose to not even bid.
From the web page of Page Wolfberg and Werth, “The National EMS Industry Law Firm” we can see a partial listing:
Could it be that the word was out in the industry that the fire department is in bed with their chosen vendor and that bidding would be a giant waste of time and money?
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
DavidK touches on the ambulance boondoggle here: http://refusethejuice.typepad.com/thinkaboutit/2010/12/30-el-paso-jobs-lost-based-on-bad-math.html. Go to his RefusetheJuice blog and enter “ambulance” in the search box for his enlightened slant on the issue. He also makes the point that putting ambulance services (or the billing thereof) out to bid before the contract was up looks a lot like the bond services debacle that Tommy Gonzalez was crucified for.
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Here, I saved you the trouble of entering “ambulance” in the search box: http://refusethejuice.typepad.com/.services/blog/6a00d83452a92569e200d8341d736453ef/search?filter.q=ambulance
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If there are dozens of potential service providers, why did the city send it to only three? Just running a notice in the local newspaper would not have reached those companies.
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The City, the School Districts, EPWU — the entities in El Paso that put out requests for a bid — I am beginning to believe that they are all fixed. They have a vendor in mind when they issue the bid and that is the way it goes. It takes an immense amount of work to submit a bid or a proposal, and my firm, for one, has given up.
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Oftentimes a potential bidder actually helps write the specs and the RFQ. That’s how some RFQ’s limit the field and why one or two companies magically seem like a perfect fit for the job. Purchasing departments and people in governemnt love using vendors to help write the RFQ because it reduces their workload and gives an inside track to their preferred vendor. There is an old saying that “If the first time you heard about an RFQ was when it was issued, you’re too late.”
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