Sunset Vies for Clean Sweep
by Larry Gilbert

Update: Folks. There is one sentence that I overlooked. The current two-year rate from Athens Service is $633,867.16.

Now that Mission Viejo's street sweeping bids have been opened, our city council should not delay in awarding the next two-year contract, as FYE June 30 2013 is less than 3 weeks away. At the June 5 bid opening the following proposals were received:

Sunset $631,167.59
Athens Services $792,208.82
Dickson $795,183.72
Clear Streets $986,844.52

As reported previously, a fifth bid arrived after the cutoff time and date. I have no idea who it was from, but it is irrelevant to the current procurement exercise. Witnessing city employee Robert Schick opening and reading the bids were MV Council Member Cathy Schlicht, Assistant City Manager Keith Rattay, MV employee Bruce Trexler, along with representatives on behalf of Athens, Dickson and Sunset. Therefore, there is no possible challenge to the above-referenced pricing.

As FYE June 30th is just around the corner, I would anticipate the city council negotiating a one-month extension of our street sweeping with the current vendor for a smooth transition to their replacement.

Attending our council meetings in person or watching replays on MVTV, this decision is one of the easiest facing this council. In listening to Mayor Reardon and Mayor Pro Tem Kelley when the current contract was debated in 2011, they each had the highest praises for Sunset, the former vendor, who served our city for 17 years until losing the bid to Athens solely on cost, as Athens wanted to get a foothold in a major South County city. Along with our policy of awarding contracts to the lowest bidder, the word "responsible " comes into play. When Council Member Reardon asked Director Rattay to define a "responsible " vendor, he responded that the city checks out references, etc.

I find this particular RFP very troubling. My concern was a new requirement that any bidder must have trucks that were virtually brand new at the time of the contract award, which triggered an alarm for me. As of April 26, 2013, bidders were advised of an additional equipment requirement, (SP8-Section 4), which read as follows: "Street sweepers provided to the city for street sweeping shall not be more than two (2) years old, or newer, at the start of the contract."

This is where I see a red flag. I refer to the Jan. 7 staff recommendation to simply renew the current contract with Athens for another two years. That boilerplate did not contain any restrictive language on the equipment age. When challenged by Councilman Leckness during the May 20 meeting, the council majority removed that requirement. However, it was not until Fri., May 31, four business days before the bid opening, that potential bidders would learn of that revision. In that same meeting I quoted Director Rattay who had stated that this age requirement was not in the original RFP and that there would not be any added benefit by this additional requirement (paraphrased).

What we have here is a "performance" contract opportunity. As such, the city should not engage in micro-managing a private sector business, especially when this added requirement was not part of the prior agreement requirements and the end date is only guaranteed for two years. You can't drive down to our auto mall, get out your credit card and drive one off the showroom floor. These special CNG vehicles, costing upwards of $250,000 to $300,000, might take 90-180 days for delivery.

There is more to this service, and if you'll stick around, let me point out that Athens reported only 950 tons of debris picked up in 2012, yet the prior vendor has documented 1,257 tons in 2010, 1,275 tons in 2009 and 1,330 tons of debris being removed from our streets in 2008. While there are circumstances that can explain some of the variance such as unusual climatic events, and without demeaning Athens’ performance, our streets were surely clean in prior years. I question the August 15, 2011, Agenda report which states that "MV staff will monitor the collected debris on a monthly basis to ensure the amounts being reported are consistent with prior year's street sweeping dumping efforts." However, anticipating a return to our prior vendor, I will close for now and await the selection outcome.