El Paso County panel to vet bids comes under fire
Mere weeks ago the El Paso County Commissioners Court created a Procurement Review Panel (PRP) charged with vetting the bid process for high cost projects.
One of the panel’s first recommendations has already come under fire.
Commissioner Dan Haggerty said Sunlight Enterprises came in as the low bidder, but they were not selected by the PRP to complete work on the Sports Park in east El Paso. Instead F.T. James, another construction company, was selected by the panel to do the work for more than $7,000,000.
At issue is the overall cost for the project. According to documents posted online by El Paso County, the low bid for the base project was F.T. James. The price was roughly $150,000 less than Sunlight Enterprises. However, the County had initially included nine alternates in their construction plans, and since the money is available the County looked at the cost of the bids with all the alternates included. When you add up the individual bids, Sunlight Enterprises was the cheaper bid by more than $300,000.
At issue, according to Ernie Carrizal III, the Director of El Paso County’s Public Works Department, is a low amount Sunlight Enterprises bid for alternative two. Alternative two deals with a portion of fencing. The difference between the two companies was almost half of one million dollars. Carrizal told the County Commissioners he didn’t believe Sunlight Enterprises could build a fence at the cost they bid. As a result, they took alternate two out of the discussion and decided the county could build that portion. If that alternative is removed F.T. James is once again the low bidder.
Representatives from both companies showed up to County Commissioners Court on Monday to dispute the process. Sunlight Enterprises workers insist that the work can be done at the cost bid.
Dan Haggerty took issue with the process, “So we are just going to outright award it to another bidder because we don’t believe Ernie?”
Haggerty said the PRP’s job was to make recommendations, but that the County Commissioners Court is an elected body and they ultimately made the decisions. He even made a motion to hire Sunlight Enterprises in the middle of an argument. No one seconded the motion.
Anna Perez took issue with Haggerty’s move. She pointed out that a meeting last Monday was held and that they made the decision to let the PRP review the process.
“Either we follow the process or we sit here every week and debate the process,” said Perez.
Judge Veronica Escobar who came up with the initial concept of the PRP, admitted the panel isn’t perfected yet. She pointed out that the Sports Park bid was already underway before the PRP was created, and that issues have arisen as a result.
As for the two construction companies, both have hired attorneys who were inside the courtroom on Monday to listen to the decision the County Commissioners ultimately make.
At last check the Commissioners are behind closed doors in an executive session that media members are not allowed inside. ABC-7 has a reporter at the courthouse following this story. For more updates you can follow Matthew Smith on Twitter at @MattSmithABC7.
