P.G. Awards Bid to Quesnel Company, Eyebrows Raised

Friday, September 23, 2005 04:02 AM

A number of city workers are expressing dismay at the City recently awarding the contract for the lease of two backhoes from a Quesnel company.

They say that the difference in the bid is just over $34 dollars per month, per unit ,and while the bid includes a five year warranty it does not include the travel from Quesnel for a repairman and the hourly traveling rate .

One worker asked "Can you imagine me waiting here at the job site to have a guy come from Quesnel to fix my machine? They will have to pay me and the guy driving up from Quesnel. It don’t make any sense."

A repairman is charged out at $97 dollars an hour traveling time and the vehicle he or she is using is charged out at 90 cents a kilometer . That works out to approximately $ 496.00 dollars for every time a service call is made.

The difference in the Prince George bid and the Quesnel bid is $68.04 cents per month for the two machines. The term of the lease advertised on the city site is for a period of five years for the two four wheel drive units.

A few years ago concerns were raised in the city when a tender for some new trucks was awarded to a Williams’s Lake dealer. The city's bid document says the lowest tender will not necessarily be accepted.
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Posted on Friday, September 23, 2005 04:02 AM in News by Ben Meisner

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Comments

Posted by: gypsy on September 23 2005 8:28 AM

Well, let me be the second to say, "It does not make sense."
Should we be shocked???
No way-but we better accept it!!
This purchasing agent is not going to change HIS policy.
And it is an excellent question--has this arm at city hall ever had an audit???
It is overdue-like years!!!

Posted by: owl on September 23 2005 9:36 AM

The City, or any owner has the right to award the bid to anyone they wish. The clause about not necessarily awarding to the low bidder just points that out one more time in case anyone wishes to dispute that.

That being said this City need to have a "buy at home policy". Not one which is at any price, but if it is close, then the "close to home" purchase should be the one which is made. The other factors surrounding this one appear, from the information presented above, to indicate that there are other reasons why this purchase should have been made in Prince George.

And yes, PG City Hall needs an audit which goes into busiess practices and efficiency and effectiveness in addtion to the standard financial audit.

Posted by: duffer on September 26 2005 2:17 PM

I am amazed that this purchasing agent is still in the position of spending our money wherever he feels like. This is the third time I can think of, that he has stabbed in the back, the very people that pay his wages. Does the Quesnel business pay any taxes here in P.G.? Do they have a business license here, and how many people do they employ here and so on? It would be interesting to find out if Quesnel and Williams Lake purchase items for their city crews from out of town. Does anyone that reads this column know?