It was supposed to be a straightforward process.
The city’s purchasing department would issue a request for proposals for a company to use a city-owned hangar at Dillant-Hopkins Airport. Companies would apply, and city staff would choose one.
That’s not how it went.
First, the deadline for replying to the request was pushed back by a week, because the city’s purchasing agent was out for a day during the week in November the proposals were originally due.
Purchasing agent Jeffrey W. Titus said his office had sent out electronic notices to more than 500 businesses on the list of vendors the city maintains and sends requests to. The department uses that list to issue announcements about upcoming projects to businesses listed under certain categories. It also uses the list to update applicants about changes.
Two aviation companies that already rent space at the airport – Green River Aviation and Monadnock Aviation — expressed interest.
Green River has rented and maintained the hangar for more than 10 years. A disagreement on lease rates in 2013 prompted city officials to put the hangar out for bid, and Green River has occupied the hangar as a holdover tenant since then.
But only Monadnock Aviation was officially registered with the purchasing department’s list of local contractors and companies. That meant it was the only company to receive information about the request for proposals online, and the only company to be notified of the new due date.
Green River Operations Manager Edward Appel said at City Council meetings in the following weeks that he does not subscribe to the online vendor list. He knew he had an extra week, but says he never received an email airport Director Edward Mattern sent specifying exactly which day the proposals were due. Thinking he had a full seven extra days, he delivered a hard copy of his proposal for the hangar to City Hall a day late.
Over the next weeks, councilors deliberated over the dilemma, ultimately deciding to restart the request for proposals process, despite Monadnock Aviation’s protests.
“I’m disappointed,” company President Beth Bendel said after the council’s Feb. 19 decision. “I followed the process while others did not. ... I don’t see how this is fair.”
But the incident has led city officials to realize the proposals process didn’t make it clear that to do work for the city, companies need to be online.
“Fifteen or 20 years ago there were business that might not have an email address, but that’s just not the case anymore, “ Titus said.
The online registry was supposed to make the bidding process easier, he said.
Since it was implemented, most local companies have signed on to the online registry. There hadn’t been any problems distributing information about a project until the hangar lease came up, he said.
“It was done to try to automate the system as much as possible... and get information to people as best as possible,” he said.
Just recommending to companies that they join the purchasing department online used to be enough, but now he said the city realizes it needs to be more clear.
The City Council has already voted to make online registration a requirement for applicants to use the airport hangar the second time around, and city officials are considering making more permanent changes to the process in general.
“It’s just to clarify everything very clearly, in terms of what’s required,” Titus said. “It’s always good to be looking at how you do things — sometimes technology impacts things in a good way, but you need to make sure that... people are part of the process.
Bendel said she wants to read the new request for proposals for the hangar before she decides if she’ll submit a bid again.
Appel said the mix-up occurred because he was used to relying on phone calls or face-to-face conversations with Mattern. He said because he has worked at the airport for more than 15 years, he didn’t expect the lease process to be such a big deal.
“I’m a maintenance guy,” he said. “I don’t have the marching bandwagon to come to the city and say, ‘I’m going to do this, this and this.’”
But he said, he plans to reapply. And, if the city says it’s necessary, he’ll sign up for the online registry.
Original article can be found here: http://www.sentinelsource.com
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