John Poole, in his Constructonomics Blog, posts some insightful observations of the challenges of starting work as a general contractor in this brutal economy.
Competition, he has discovered, is fierce, and provisions to ensure fairness and openness invite/encourage cheating or manipulation to game the rules. When upwards of 14 businesses bid for the job in the open RFP, the winner either is doing something odd, or is losing his shirt.
Poole writes:
Over the past six months, I have had the wonderful privilege (ahem) of bidding about 15 public Requests for Proposals. While I have complained constantly about the process, I probably wouldn’t have any work at all at the moment if they were not available. As a brand new company there are very few private owners that would take a chance on an untested and unproven no-name. However, in the world of public bidding, while a municipality may not want to take a chance on an unproven no-name either, the law simply states – they have to.
Then he adds something that should send shivers up the spine of anyone who thinks public bid work is actually fair.
I take that back, they don’t have to. What they do have to do is give the job to the lowest responsible bidder. Of course responsible is the key word there and they could make a contractor look irresponsible rather quickly if they wanted to (or if a few Benjamins were slipped into their pocket). But the reality is that there are tax dollars at stake and all information regarding bidders is one hundred percent public. So if a town wants to disqualify a low bid, they better have darn good reason to do it, or some villagers may get quite angry. If a low bidder is able to produce a bid bond as well as the necessary insurance requirements, I would think that it is a very difficult sell for a town to disqualify a bid. If they did, I wouldn’t be surprised if some rumblings began around town about councilmen with “greasy pockets”.
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