1. On September 9, 2010 bids were received for the Pike County Transit Facility. At that time the bid of ABGC was the apparent low bidder and Setterlin was the second low bidder. During the bid opening a controversy occurred because bidder Setterlin failed to put pricing on all items comprising a combination bid. Ohio law requires bidders to do so. Setterlin alleged at the bid opening that the bid documents were defective and only suggested that the individual prices be filled in. 2. On September 20, 2010, Community Action Committee of Pike County, Inc. issued a letter indicating that they were rejecting all the General Trades bids but would be accepting the mechanical and electrical bids. The letter also indicated that because additional funds were available there would be additions to the general trades work. 3. Plans and specifications for this project were prepared by DLZ Architects, Columbus, OH. Public notices were issued and the entire project was to be rebid, including receiving new bids for mechanical and electrical work. 4. On January 6, 2011, bids were again received for the project and again ABGC was the apparent low bidder on the general trades package. The bids of ABGC and other separate prime contractors were the best combination of bids; o ABGC General Trades $ 995,368.00 o AJ Stockmeister PLMG $ 88,466.00 o Mechanical Const HVAC $ 169,400.00 o S& S Electric $ 173,600.00 o TOTAL $1,426,834.00 5. Between January 6, 2011 and January 11, 2011 ABGC repeatedly attempted to contact DLZ to find our the status of the award. On January 11, 2011, an email was received from Leanne Brewster of DLZ indicating the bid of ABGC was rejected as incomplete. In addition ABGC contacted the project representative for DLZ to discuss the decision and to inquire about the rejection. Mr. Harvey Schwager took the call. Schwager stated that several documents were missing from ABGC package. The documents were pulled and during a conference call it was demonstrated that all of the required paperwork was included. Furthermore, ABGC as a federal contractor had already complied with representations and certifications in the federal governments ORCA and CCR electronic registration. Schwager then indicated that an FTA form was also to be submitted. ABGC demonstrated clearly to Schwager that it was not clear that the form was to be submitted with the package, that it was understood to be a post-bid, pre-award document. Whereas, there is no project number to be filled in established. Further, the document was not listed in the Instruction to bidders. Schwager referred to a list of documents on section/page 00 21 13-2, para 1.6 which provides for items A through R. Schwager identified item “O”, FTA Master Agreement, further indicating that everything in that list of A to R was required to be submitted. ABGC argued that this was a list of documents comprising the bid documents and not a list of items to be submitted with the bid proposal. ABGC cited items M, N,
• DLZ made themselves unavailable until after a notice of award to Setterlin, which works to diminish ABGC’s redress of the issue. This indicates a favoritism to Setterlin. • The bid of ABGC along with the other prime bidders was approximately $70,000 below the price of Setterlin. Which at best is a waste of taxpayer funds, and at worst favortisim to Setterlin. • ABGC is a federally certified Women Owned, HUBZone and SDV, Small Disadvantaged concern. Which are specifically targeted to be beneficiaries to ARRA funding. Setterlin is none of the above. This demonstrates CACPC’s disregard to the mandates of ARRA, and favoritism to Setterlin. Whereas, DLZ and CACPC did not provide for subcontracting goals for the targeted business entities. • ABGC is a state of Ohio certified EDGE contractor. The state of Ohio public funded projects requires that a certain percentage of all public works projects go to certified EDGE contractors. This demonstrates CACPC’s and DLZ’s blatent disregard to assisting EDGE contractors. • ABGC is a local contractor located only 16 miles from the site and planned on using local labor and subcontractors. ABGC is a Women Owned, Edge certified, small disadvantaged business concern. ABGC is a federally recognized HUBZone, WOB and SDV. All of these factors have been ignored by CACPC and DLZ. • DLZ and CACPC we believe are responsible for public bidding wrong doing. We believe they are responsible for disregarding the targeted contracting groups as indicated in the ARRA. We believe they are responsible for wasting taxpayer funds. We believe they have abandoned any commitment to the local economy by awarding the contract to an out of town contractor. • The circumstances regarding this bid should investigated.
PART 1
ReplyDeletePike County Transit Facility
1. On September 9, 2010 bids were received for the Pike County Transit Facility. At that time the bid of ABGC was the apparent low bidder and Setterlin was the second low bidder. During the bid opening a controversy occurred because bidder Setterlin failed to put pricing on all items comprising a combination bid. Ohio law requires bidders to do so. Setterlin alleged at the bid opening that the bid documents were defective and only suggested that the individual prices be filled in.
2. On September 20, 2010, Community Action Committee of Pike County, Inc. issued a letter indicating that they were rejecting all the General Trades bids but would be accepting the mechanical and electrical bids. The letter also indicated that because additional funds were available there would be additions to the general trades work.
3. Plans and specifications for this project were prepared by DLZ Architects, Columbus, OH. Public notices were issued and the entire project was to be rebid, including receiving new bids for mechanical and electrical work.
4. On January 6, 2011, bids were again received for the project and again ABGC was the apparent low bidder on the general trades package. The bids of ABGC and other separate prime contractors were the best combination of bids;
o ABGC General Trades $ 995,368.00
o AJ Stockmeister PLMG $ 88,466.00
o Mechanical Const HVAC $ 169,400.00
o S& S Electric $ 173,600.00
o TOTAL $1,426,834.00
5. Between January 6, 2011 and January 11, 2011 ABGC repeatedly attempted to contact DLZ to find our the status of the award. On January 11, 2011, an email was received from Leanne Brewster of DLZ indicating the bid of ABGC was rejected as incomplete. In addition ABGC contacted the project representative for DLZ to discuss the decision and to inquire about the rejection. Mr. Harvey Schwager took the call. Schwager stated that several documents were missing from ABGC package. The documents were pulled and during a conference call it was demonstrated that all of the required paperwork was included. Furthermore, ABGC as a federal contractor had already complied with representations and certifications in the federal governments ORCA and CCR electronic registration. Schwager then indicated that an FTA form was also to be submitted. ABGC demonstrated clearly to Schwager that it was not clear that the form was to be submitted with the package, that it was understood to be a post-bid, pre-award document. Whereas, there is no project number to be filled in established. Further, the document was not listed in the Instruction to bidders. Schwager referred to a list of documents on section/page 00 21 13-2, para 1.6 which provides for items A through R. Schwager identified item “O”, FTA Master Agreement, further indicating that everything in that list of A to R was required to be submitted. ABGC argued that this was a list of documents comprising the bid documents and not a list of items to be submitted with the bid proposal. ABGC cited items M, N,
PART 3
ReplyDelete• DLZ made themselves unavailable until after a notice of award to Setterlin, which works to diminish ABGC’s redress of the issue. This indicates a favoritism to Setterlin.
• The bid of ABGC along with the other prime bidders was approximately $70,000 below the price of Setterlin. Which at best is a waste of taxpayer funds, and at worst favortisim to Setterlin.
• ABGC is a federally certified Women Owned, HUBZone and SDV, Small Disadvantaged concern. Which are specifically targeted to be beneficiaries to ARRA funding. Setterlin is none of the above. This demonstrates CACPC’s disregard to the mandates of ARRA, and favoritism to Setterlin. Whereas, DLZ and CACPC did not provide for subcontracting goals for the targeted business entities.
• ABGC is a state of Ohio certified EDGE contractor. The state of Ohio public funded projects requires that a certain percentage of all public works projects go to certified EDGE contractors. This demonstrates CACPC’s and DLZ’s blatent disregard to assisting EDGE contractors.
• ABGC is a local contractor located only 16 miles from the site and planned on using local labor and subcontractors. ABGC is a Women Owned, Edge certified, small disadvantaged business concern. ABGC is a federally recognized HUBZone, WOB and SDV. All of these factors have been ignored by CACPC and DLZ.
• DLZ and CACPC we believe are responsible for public bidding wrong doing. We believe they are responsible for disregarding the targeted contracting groups as indicated in the ARRA. We believe they are responsible for wasting taxpayer funds. We believe they have abandoned any commitment to the local economy by awarding the contract to an out of town contractor.
• The circumstances regarding this bid should investigated.