We have been hammered with snow here in Pittsburgh \u2013 40 inches in about 12 days with no thaw \u2013 which has caused all kinds of problems. Actually, I am typing this right now from my home because my roof is leaking in three different places and I am afraid to leave the house.<\/p>\n
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The problems with this snow have forced Pittsburgh City Council to declare a state of emergency. I\u2019m not sure what all this means, but according to today\u2019s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, \u201cthe declaration\u2026suspends competitive-bidding requirements. It allowed Public Works Director Robert Kaczorowski to hire Wood Waste Recycling and B & R Contractors, which together were expected to deploy around 12 additional pieces of heavy equipment. The goals of those crews and the city\u2019s 50-plus snow-clearing trucks were to widen the drivable portions of main roads, clear snow from areas around schools, remove snow heaps from business districts, clear access to on-street parking areas and get some mounds out of residential neighborhoods.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, in other words, the jobs are important, but not so urgent that the supplier selection couldn\u2019t wait a half-day. The roads are driveable and safe. There just needs to be a little cleanup for convenience sake.<\/p>\n
OK. Now I understand that you wouldn\u2019t want to do a 3-month sourcing process in a state of emergency. But why do competitive bidding requirements have to be completely waived? Couldn\u2019t the city ask for a few quotes for comparison sake? If Wood Waste Recycling and B & R Contractors are aware that they are hired without having their pricing benchmarked, don\u2019t you think that they are going to charge quite hefty fees?<\/p>\n
I think that there can be a happy medium between government-style strict competitive bidding and selecting whatever contractor you want. There should be a quick bid process that isn\u2019t as long or as stringent as a typical bid process, but that at least ensures that the city\u2019s taxpayers aren\u2019t being overly gouged.<\/p>\n
Now, if you\u2019ll excuse me, I have to check on those leaks\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We have been hammered with snow here in Pittsburgh \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":4026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-procurement"],"yoast_head":"\n