Some councillors made it loud and clear at last night's meeting that they wanted to buy locally when it came to eight new 4 x 4 half ton crew cab trucks,
They voted 5 - 4 against a staff recommendation to spend $269,179 from Highbury Ford Sales Ltd., located in London, Ontario.
The issue many members of council had was that runner-ups for the Request for Proposal (RFP) included two local dealerships, Farquhar Chrysler—scoring second—and Stockfish Ford—scoring fourth.
“I’m disappointed even though we had two local bids, we’re getting them from London Ontario while these other bids from town do a lot for our community,” Coun. Derek Shogren said before the vote.
Other members of council were equally disappointed with the staff recommendation, with Coun. Mark King questioning the rating system used by the city and that it should be evaluated to better consider local bids.
However, Coun. George Maroosis wanted to make it clear that the RFP process is heavily regulated by the Province and city councillors have little choice in the matter.
See: Discriminatory Business Practices Act
“This has to be a level playing field,” he reminded his colleagues at the table. “We are all bound by law in the process and the truth is there is nothing we can do about it.”
Coun. Maroosis a local businessman himself, recommended his colleagues tell local bidders to ‘sharpen their pencils sharper’ should they wish to see local bids succeed more, saying often times outside contractors can lodge their employees and feed them here while keeping their bids lower than local companies.
However, Coun. Mike Anthony argued that an RFP is different than a quote and it doesn’t always come down to the price given by companies and that there are always other values considered in the RFP scoring process.
According to the staff report, Highbury Ford Sales Ltd scored 97.5/100 while Farguhar Chrysler and Stockfish Ford scored 94.5/100 and 90.5/100 respectively.
But councillors made their thoughts loud and clear during the vote, with councillors Daryl Vaillancourt, Shogren, Anthony, King, and the Mayor all voting against the recommendation—enough to oppose it successfully.
The need for these trucks comes in wake of delaying fleet purchases for the city over the last three years, keeping it at a minimum in order to implement the new fleet governance model and establish new processes. These eight trucks would be considered light vehicle fleet and would be used across multiple departments.
Additionally, the report details several new elements which have been added to the RFP specifications.
Examples include the proper commissioning of rust control, extended warranty, and rock guards, all of which are products to extend the life of a vehicle. This purchase will allow the Corporation to bring the small fleet vehicles to a standard it can uphold and obtain maximum return on investment.
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