This will be the second time vehicle bids for the police department will have been rejected, if the staff recommendation is accepted by Cleveland City Council members Monday.
Freeland Chevrolet of Antioch, a south Nashville surburb, submitted two bids — one on a set of 2011 Chevy Traverses for $31,027 each and another for $31,471, the latter of which features wheel and tire upgrades.
Local dealers were invited to bid on the models, but no packages were received by the 2 p.m. deadline, according to Melinda Carroll, assistant city manager and purchasing director, and Ron Wilkerson, fleet manager.
Following a review of the lone bid, committee members rejected both prices. They described the Chevy Traverse as a full-sized SUV, not mid-sized as requested in the original bid specifications. The city had allotted only $35,000 for both vehicles. In both Freeland prices, the pair would have cost more than $62,000.
Carroll said she had expected bids from at least one or two local dealers based on prior phone calls, one as recently as Wednesday morning, but no packages arrived. Wilkerson said dealers might have had difficulty finding available vehicles because most are currently in a transition period between 2010 and 2011 models. Their supplies of 2010s are now limited and are not fully stocked in 2011s.
“Some (dealers) don’t have anything to bid because we’re in that 2010-2011 transition,” Wilkerson pointed out.
Wilkerson and Carroll said one option might be to delay the vehicle bids until this fall.
The recommendation for bid rejection will be included in the biweekly information package submitted to City Council members Friday in preparation for Monday’s pair of afternoon meetings — a 2 p.m. work session and a 4 p.m. voting session.
Carroll said options for City Council review will include accepting staff recommendation to reject and then rebid now or later, to rebid but with different specifications or to investigate available models using state contract.
Under the state contract scenario, local governments are given the option of “piggy-backing” onto state bids through Tennessee Department of Transportation, General Services, Administration or other state departments in order to get best possible pricing. Carroll said the city does not traditionally use this option for vehicles because staff wants to give local dealers the first opportunity to bid. Local dealers do have the chance to bid state contracts should they choose, she added.
This is the second time city staff has rejected bids for the police department vehicles. The first came earlier this year for two pick-up trucks. Three bids were rejected then and staff altered the specs for mid-sized SUVs after determining these would better fit the police department’s needs.
