Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 1, 1994 TAG: 9404010236
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Elliston Fire Chief Malvin Wells expects the county to have new bids in six to eight weeks. He said a Fire Department committee has yet to discuss changes to the bid specifications.
Elliston firefighters have been waiting for the new pumper/tanker for a decade. They had to take their old tanker out of service about four years ago because of rust problems, Wells said. They've been making do with a 21-year-old, 1,000-gallon model handed down from the Riner Volunteer Fire Department.
After a closed-door briefing Monday, the county Board of Supervisors repealed a March 14 resolution stating its intent to award a $224,878 contract to Response Vehicles of Virginia, which had submitted the second-lowest bid.
The board had given the other four competitors 10 days to respond, and both Pierce Manufacturing, the low bidder, and Fire-X Corp., the high bidder, protested the decision.
Procedurally, the supervisors did nothing wrong, Thorpe said. But practically, voiding all five bids will allow the Fire Department to seek new bids for the fire truck without being tied up in litigation that could have resulted from the protests, he said.
The problem with the original bids was twofold: the lowest bid did not meet the Fire Department's specifications for the thickness of the truck's cab; and the next lowest met the specs but exceeded the budgeted cost.
The Fire Department wanted to reduce the next-lowest bid by nearly $5,000 by eliminating features from the truck. That would have left Response Vehicles of Virginia's bid still $33,000 above budget. The county had proposed making up that difference using $19,700 raised by the Elliston Fire Department and $13,300 from the county contingencies fund. The county will pay for the bulk of the cost through the capital improvements program.
At the March 14 Board of Supervisors meeting, Thorpe warned the board and Wells that they couldn't adjust the winning bid price by removing features. That would have amounted to tinkering with the bid.
Bad weather also complicated the bid procedures. Some of the proposals came in after the deadline, which occurred during an ice storm, but were still accepted.
"Because of the clouded issues and because of the protest and also the desire to expedite this ... the practical solution is to reject all bids and start over," Thorpe said.
Pierce and Fire-X notified the county this week that they are satisfied with the rejection and will submit new bids, Thorpe said.
by CNB