Finance Committee Approves Resolution Creating Responsible Bidder Policy – Policy Would Give The City More Ability To Weed Out Substandard Contractors

The Finance Committee met 05/20/2024. One of the items it took up was the resolution to establish a responsible bidder policy.

The purpose of such a policy would be to provide the city solid legal standing to reject bids from contractors that are unqualified to complete the work in an appropriate manner and to provide more certainty that the contractors who are bidding on projects are qualified to carry out the work.

There was some concern that this policy would lead to the city receiving fewer bids at a time when there is already a smaller number of bidders, and while that was a possibility, the policy was actually intended to decrease the number of bidders by weeding out the unqualified ones.

There was also some concern that this policy would, in some way, decrease the leeway the city had in rejecting bids, but in actuality it would increase the flexibility, because right now due to not having a responsible bidder policy the city is required under state law to accept the lowest bidder for a project.

The committee ended up voting 5-0 to recommend the resolution for approval.

I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:

Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6) who was the primary author of the resolution said this had been brought to her by staff. She noted that the city had been unable to apply for a $170,000 grant for the library project because the project hadn’t been bid under the federal Davis Bacon Law, [the implication being establishing this responsible bidder policy would potentially open up grant opportunities].

Alderperson Katie Van Zeeland (District 5), one of the co-authors, was concerned that some of the workers on a recent project had not been well-trained and she wanted to have something in place to assure the quality of the bidders they were working with.

Alderperson Sher Hartzheim (District 13) was concerned that the policy would reduce competition. “[I]t feels like it’s just another layer of governance that will just make it more difficult for the city to get appropriate contractors to do the work that we need to get done. We already have one and two bidders potentially on a lot of these things.”

Director of Parks, Recreation, and Facilities Dean Gazza explained, “[I]t’s not about getting enough bidders. It’s more about getting enough qualified bidders […] we’ve experienced some less than better contract work that we’ve had. And all of the qualified ones that utilize, you know, apprentice labor and so forth, you know, them are the ones that are ensuring that the Appleton’s tax dollars are being used, because we’re going to ensure quality, we’re going to ensure safety, and we’re going to ensure a project gets well done for years.”

There was one clause in the resolution that called for contractors bidding on public works contracts that exceed $1 million to participate in a Class A Registered Apprenticeship Program; however, this clause only went into effect at the discretion of the Director of the Department of Public Works so there was a lot of flexibility in applying that rule.

Alderperson Alex Schultz (District 9) thought that there had been instances in the past where the city had gone with the second lowest bidder rather than the lowest bidder and he was worried about losing that wiggle room. However, it turned out that he was thinking of the Request For Proposal process not the bidding process. The RFP process involves a points-based evaluation of the different proposals and sometimes city staff will recommend awarding of a contract to a company that does not, on paper, receive the most number of points. The bidding process is fairly cut and dried and the city must go with the lowest bidder barring some kind of proof that the lowest bidder is unqualified; this policy would give the city the ability to define what qualified and unqualified is and allow them the flexibility to reject bidders on that basis.

Director Gazza noted that most cities in Wisconsin of Appleton’s size have a responsible bidder policy in place and it was surprising that Appleton doesn’t.

The committee ended up voting unanimously to recommend the resolution for approval.

View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1189394&GUID=02DF36EF-8711-45CF-8D94-A112FB9D1832