During Monday’s Sunflower County Board of Supervisors’ meeting, Attorney Johnny McWilliams gave the members an update on the reverse auction process, which has caused many unanswered questions since its inception.
The supervisors voted last month to use Southern Procurement to administer the process to purchase a new ambulance for the county. However, it is only set up for totally electronic bids, but the state’s procurement statute states that each bidding process must include a way for vendors, who decide not to use the electronic measure, to submit paper bids.
Although the state has mandated the use of the process McWilliams said the legislature has provide little information. “The audit department basically told me, you set a policy, you do it any way you want to as long as you set it up as a policy and that’s the way you’re going to do it,” McWilliams said.
He said the issue now is since paper bids have to be included, how should it be done. According to McWilliams, Vaughn Blalock of Southern Procurement wants the vendors who do not use the electronic process to submit a paper bid with the stipulations, “This is my starting bid, this is my low bid and this is how I want you to move.”
He said, “In other words they would be doing the reverse auction process, but he would have instructions about how to do it.” McWilliams said the alternative would be to submit a stationary bid.
Although McWilliams said it should not affect the bid for ambulances, since all those vendors will submit electronically, some of the county’s major vendors such as John Deere and Caterpillar have adamantly stated they will not use the electronic reverse auction process.
McWilliams maintains that they will continue to have problems until the legislature gives them some direction regarding paper bids and when they cannot allow paper bids. McWilliams said they need a policy they can use every single time.
Another issue that McWilliams said the legislature must address, with regard to purchases, is how the reverse auction process can be achieved when it comes to the annual supply bids. He said using the reverse auction process for that would be “impossible.”
In other business,
The county lawmakers heard and approved a request from the City of Moorhead for assistance on five of the city’s streets. Moorhead will provide the materials and supplies and the county will assist with the work.
County Engineer Ron Cassada gave an update on ongoing projects and said the Hoard Lake Bridge is complete and ready for inspection, and it must be inspected before it can be opened for use.
