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Contractors Bidding On Escambia Projects Must Follow New Rules
March 1, 2010
Contractors entering sealed bids on Escambia County projects must now play by a new set of rules to do business with the county.
The new policy was designed to eliminated the controversy that followed a rebid on a drainage project in the Maplewood neighborhood.
Now, commissioners can sanction or even disqualify bidders that attempt to influence the board or any county employee in the time between the receipt of a sealed bid and the contract award date. The Purchasing Department already had a similar internal policy, but now it is an official county-wide policy.
Contractors that violate the policy could see a contracted terminated or even suspension from future bids on county projects.
The lobbying policy does not impact a contractor’s other lobbying efforts during zoning procedures, proposal requests or letters of interest on a project.
The policy was created after commissioners rebid the Maplewood project and a State Attorney review into the actions of Commissioner Gene Valentino’s meeting with a contractor.
When bids were opened on November 18 for a Maplewoods drainage project, Gulf Equipment Company of Mobile was low bidder at $1,768,621. Road, Inc. of Cantonment’s bid was $22,982.26 more. The county’s purchasing department recommended to the Escambia County Commission that they approve the Gulf Equipment bid.
Six days later, on November 24, Valentino admitted that he met for about 45 minutes in his office with Roads, Inc. officials, including the company’s president Cody Rawson.
Roads, Inc. officials then contacted commissioners Kevin White, Grover Robinson and Wilson Robertson, telling them that they could correct a mistake on their bid and save the county $100,000.
Valentino made a motion on January 7 to rebid the project because of errors made by county staff. County Administrator Bob McLaughlin and staff members object. The motion passed 4-1, with Commissioner Marie Young against.
A week later, January 14, White made a motion at a Committee of the Whole meeting to reverse the rebid. White, Robinson and Robertson apologized, while Valentino pointed blame at county staff and the bid process. The vote to reverse the rebid and award the contract to Gulf Equipment came on January 21.
Comments
5 Responses to “Contractors Bidding On Escambia Projects Must Follow New Rules”
Ya can’t blame Roads…. they were just trying to save us taxpayers some $$$$$
Talk about a shady deal gone bad !!!!! Your article almost makes it sound like these guys made an honest mistake.,,,,, YEA RIGHT!!! The only honest mistake was the citizens of this county electing these guys. Those roads Inc. guys are as crooked as they come….. Remember the “catfish” pond (A.K.A. dirt pit)
WISE UP ESCAMBIA COUNTY !!!!
Well oversight I like your response, but if you think marie doesnt do it , you are wearing rose colored glasses, she has she just got lucky this time and didnt get caught up in this one. As long as you have politics you will have this crap. Why shouldnt the low bidder get the job, I would rather see a local company get my dollars than an out of town company. Keep our jobs here ,we have so few.
AMEN!
Elect officials with CHARACTER!!
Avoid (even) the appearence of “bad behavior”.
These big time circus clowns never cease to amaze me. Do you really think that Valentino, Robinson, Robertson, and White will, would, or even could actually disqualify or suspend one of their own good old’ boys and best campaign donors? For Roads, Inc., it’ll be business as usual because it owns those aforementioned board members, and nothing will change until we get more commissioners like Marie Young elected to replace them. There are honorable and upright folk in our community who will make good and right choices, so let’s hope that a few of them with these personal qualities will step forward and run for office.