County commissioners considering possible changes to contract bidding process

County commissioners are considering changes to how the county makes major purchases.

Commissioners Court Monday discussed how to balance two major goals: supporting local businesses vs. saving taxpayer money.

County Judge Veronica Escobar has made it a priority to awarding contracts to local companies.

County staff currently give El Paso-based businesses an advantage over out-of-town competitors by adding 3% to outside bids.

Commissioner Andrew Haggerty has raised questions about the system. He wants to find out if bids for county projects and contracts are being presented clearly and fairly, and if it’s really giving taxpayers their money’s worth.

“So what happened is they have a bid (from an outside vendor), they add 3 percent because the other bid is local, and there was still a $14,000 difference,” Haggerty said.

Haggerty argues that the current way bid information is shown when it comes to local versus outside vendors creates confusion, and can make a big difference seem less.

“So when they kept saying there’s a $14,000 difference,” Haggerty said, “it was actually closer to a $26,000 difference, which creates a whole ‘nother car being able to be purchased if we go with the BuyBoard instead of the local vendor.”

“When you look at the scope of the bid, almost $400,000 and you look at what it does for a local business and the local economy, I’d rather not send our dollars elsewhere,” County Judge Veronica Escobar said, defending the practice.

The recent discussion revolves around the purchase of more than a dozen SUVs for the sheriff’s office and constables; and more trucks, sedans and vans for general county use.

The county received mainly local bids, but then also gets quotes from a service called “BuyBoard,” a cooperative that works with city, county and state agencies throughout Texas. It’s meant to make it easier to get competitive bids on many kinds of contracts, mainly purchasing.

Commissioners have postponed consideration of purchasing the vehicles twice previously in order for new policies to be drawn up and put forth for Monday’s meeting.

Commissioners voted to buy the vehicles from a mix of local and state-wide vendors. The court instructed to bring back clearer guidelines for weighing local versus best value bids in the future.