Constructonomics Gets the Shaft Again
I can safely say that bidding public RFPs is no easy task. First, you need to provide rock bottom pricing to come in as the low
bid against five to fifteen other bidders and then, you have to be “accepted” by the municipality to perform the work. I recently found out that it is not only difficult to provide the low bid, but being selected as the contractor is also quite difficult.
I was the low bid on a township building remodel project in Bucks County Pennsylvania. It was a $220,000 job that I bid on a 10% margin for overhead and profit. However, about two days after the bid, I read an article from a local newspaper saying that the job was awarded to another contractor. I originally thought it was a misprint or the article was flat out wrong as to who won the job. I was under the impression that that low bid wins no matter what. I was sadly mistaken.
There is an ordinance in this particular township stating that all contractors doing public work must be affiliated with a “Class A apprenticeship program”. I was called the day of the bid by the town engineer asking if I was affiliated with this program. I mentioned that I was a general contractor and I did not hire apprentices or any direct construction workers for that matter and an apprenticeship program would not apply to my company. Evidently it didn’t matter.
I did a little research and even called the federal department of apprenticeship to see if I could become affiliated with such a program. I was told that I would not even be eligible for the program because I was a general contractor and didn’t hire direct labor. I then immediately relayed this information to the municipality. Evidently it didn’t matter.
I later found out that this was a way for the town to force the job to go union without saying that it was a union job. If they said it was a union job it could be argued that they were excluding contractors from bidding on their job, which would in effect make it a non-publicly bid job. However, by mandating an apprenticeship program, they are doing just that, excluding otherwise qualified contractors. Not only are they excluding them, they are not telling them they are excluded and are still making them purchase plans, and go through the time and expense of bidding on their project. I was extremely ticked off.
I called the managing director of the town and expressed my displeasure about the situation. I will say that I am surprised that he took my call and appreciate him doing so. However, he gave me what sounded like a dog and pony show about the ordinance and how they are trying to change it to allow smaller local companies win some of their contracts.
I doubt they could change this ordinance without significant resistance from the unions. Even if I did have an apprenticeship program I still think I would be disqualified because I don’t have an established relationship with the unions.
I doubt I’ll be bidding any jobs in this particular town anytime soon.
