(Nov. 6, 2014) It took a special session and two directors swapping votes Monday, as the Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors approved a $252,000 bid to rebuild the White Horse Park boat ramp.
The OPA originally balked at approving the lone proposal, which was by Chincoteague-based Fisher Marine Construction Inc., during a regular meeting on Oct. 23. Dave Stevens, Marty Clarke, Jack Collins and Pat Renaud voted against the bid.
Stevens and Renaud, during the interim, asked competing companies why they stayed away from the project.
“We called three contractors,” Stevens said. “There was nothing they said that dictated that had they been given more time or any other conditions that there was anything in the RFP that would have changed their mind about [bidding]. Whether or not the procedure was handled right from the beginning to the end, there is no corrective action. It did not materially affect the outcome.”
The OPA posted the request for proposal on Aug. 27, listing the project’s start date as Nov. 1.
“I think, given the timeframe that we’re trying to go under, the probability of getting another bid at this stage … is pretty improbable,” Stevens said. “There was no question that they all felt they did not have enough time to respond to the RFP.”
Stevens said the board needed to examine the entire process more closely, “with a mind to not repeat [mistakes] again.”
Collins said previous board protocol demanded at least three bids on a given project.
“If there is only one bid and our desire is to review three, what should we do in that case?” he asked. “Should we accept the one bid and move on? Should we not open the bid and move on? How should we handle something like that?”
“The board should be notified immediately that there is only one bid,” Stevens said. “Secondly we should go back … and query the prospective bidders, the people we asked, and find out why, exactly, and whether or not there is a correctable action right then and there.”
Stevens said the Fisher bid was, “not egregiously wrong, but it was wrong enough.”
Of the five bidders contacted by the board, according to General Manager Bob Thompson, one thought the job was too small, one could not obtain a bond and one was too busy to respond.
“The last two bidders joined together to put the bid in,” he said. “It had nothing to do with the timeframe unless we wanted to do it next fall. There was nothing wrong with the bid process.”
The only real mistake, Thompson said, was publically opening the sole bid.
Original documents for the RFP were dated Dec. 13, 2013, but the permitting process took the better part of a year, causing at least one bidder to back out because of time constraints.
Clarke questioned the board’s ability to rebound from the mishap.
“Clearly we don’t learn,” he said. “We were told that if we don’t take McDonalds and Sons’ sole source contract to do the drainage on the golf course we’ll never get it done by the spring,” he said. “Push come to shove, last minute, we gave the bid to McDonald and Sons [and] they finished in November. We could have bid it out 10 more times.”
Clarke said the same thing happened with an RFP for the yacht club pool.
“I’m obviously not going to support this,” he said. “We’re obviously not going to get multiple bids if we don’t put our foot down. If we keep approving sole source, single bids we’re never going to get a second bid.”
Parliamentarian Tom Terry, who called the special session, said none of the companies appealed for more time.
“It wouldn’t have made a doggone bit of difference if we had bid this thing in August, or July or June,” he said. “When you talk about lessons learned, the bottom line is you had five people show up at a walkthrough. If you had one person show up at a walkthrough that’s when the flags go up.
“I don’t think there was anything egregious that happened here at all,” Terry continued. “You can throw around all sorts of single source and sole source and all that stuff – that isn’t what this is by any stretch of the imagination. In full disclosure after the phone calls have been made, at least two if not three of them weren’t going to bid the business no matter when we had done it.”
Clarke said he thought it was a good bid.
“I happen to think Fisher is a good contractor,” he said. “What smells to high heaven is the process. It stinks. We can talk about five showing up – what about the three I’ve talked to that didn’t even answer the bid because [they had] less than one month to answer an 82-page RFP for a small marine contractor?”
“The one thing that I’m absolutely certain of is that if there’s a fault in the process than we’re not going to fix it here at this table now,” Stevens said.
The motion to approve the bid passed with four votes. Director Sharyn O’Hare, who voted yes during the previous meeting, was not present during the special session. Clarke voted no and Collins abstained.
“I am under the impression that we have to have multiple bids in order to protect the interest of the bidding process,” he said. “What I also heard from Bob [Thompson] and [Stevens] is that if there is a single bid in the future that bid will not be opened and the board will be informed and I’m perfectly comfortable with that.”
“I would add a few things to it,” Stevens said. “Another time, another discussion.”
The OPA originally balked at approving the lone proposal, which was by Chincoteague-based Fisher Marine Construction Inc., during a regular meeting on Oct. 23. Dave Stevens, Marty Clarke, Jack Collins and Pat Renaud voted against the bid.
Stevens and Renaud, during the interim, asked competing companies why they stayed away from the project.
“We called three contractors,” Stevens said. “There was nothing they said that dictated that had they been given more time or any other conditions that there was anything in the RFP that would have changed their mind about [bidding]. Whether or not the procedure was handled right from the beginning to the end, there is no corrective action. It did not materially affect the outcome.”
The OPA posted the request for proposal on Aug. 27, listing the project’s start date as Nov. 1.
“I think, given the timeframe that we’re trying to go under, the probability of getting another bid at this stage … is pretty improbable,” Stevens said. “There was no question that they all felt they did not have enough time to respond to the RFP.”
Stevens said the board needed to examine the entire process more closely, “with a mind to not repeat [mistakes] again.”
Collins said previous board protocol demanded at least three bids on a given project.
“If there is only one bid and our desire is to review three, what should we do in that case?” he asked. “Should we accept the one bid and move on? Should we not open the bid and move on? How should we handle something like that?”
“The board should be notified immediately that there is only one bid,” Stevens said. “Secondly we should go back … and query the prospective bidders, the people we asked, and find out why, exactly, and whether or not there is a correctable action right then and there.”
Stevens said the Fisher bid was, “not egregiously wrong, but it was wrong enough.”
Of the five bidders contacted by the board, according to General Manager Bob Thompson, one thought the job was too small, one could not obtain a bond and one was too busy to respond.
“The last two bidders joined together to put the bid in,” he said. “It had nothing to do with the timeframe unless we wanted to do it next fall. There was nothing wrong with the bid process.”
The only real mistake, Thompson said, was publically opening the sole bid.
Original documents for the RFP were dated Dec. 13, 2013, but the permitting process took the better part of a year, causing at least one bidder to back out because of time constraints.
Clarke questioned the board’s ability to rebound from the mishap.
“Clearly we don’t learn,” he said. “We were told that if we don’t take McDonalds and Sons’ sole source contract to do the drainage on the golf course we’ll never get it done by the spring,” he said. “Push come to shove, last minute, we gave the bid to McDonald and Sons [and] they finished in November. We could have bid it out 10 more times.”
Clarke said the same thing happened with an RFP for the yacht club pool.
“I’m obviously not going to support this,” he said. “We’re obviously not going to get multiple bids if we don’t put our foot down. If we keep approving sole source, single bids we’re never going to get a second bid.”
Parliamentarian Tom Terry, who called the special session, said none of the companies appealed for more time.
“It wouldn’t have made a doggone bit of difference if we had bid this thing in August, or July or June,” he said. “When you talk about lessons learned, the bottom line is you had five people show up at a walkthrough. If you had one person show up at a walkthrough that’s when the flags go up.
“I don’t think there was anything egregious that happened here at all,” Terry continued. “You can throw around all sorts of single source and sole source and all that stuff – that isn’t what this is by any stretch of the imagination. In full disclosure after the phone calls have been made, at least two if not three of them weren’t going to bid the business no matter when we had done it.”
Clarke said he thought it was a good bid.
“I happen to think Fisher is a good contractor,” he said. “What smells to high heaven is the process. It stinks. We can talk about five showing up – what about the three I’ve talked to that didn’t even answer the bid because [they had] less than one month to answer an 82-page RFP for a small marine contractor?”
“The one thing that I’m absolutely certain of is that if there’s a fault in the process than we’re not going to fix it here at this table now,” Stevens said.
The motion to approve the bid passed with four votes. Director Sharyn O’Hare, who voted yes during the previous meeting, was not present during the special session. Clarke voted no and Collins abstained.
“I am under the impression that we have to have multiple bids in order to protect the interest of the bidding process,” he said. “What I also heard from Bob [Thompson] and [Stevens] is that if there is a single bid in the future that bid will not be opened and the board will be informed and I’m perfectly comfortable with that.”
“I would add a few things to it,” Stevens said. “Another time, another discussion.”