Emotions ran high in Summerland's council chambers Friday morning when a janitorial contract was awarded to a Kelowna firm. Council voted 6-1 in favour of choosing Evergreen Building Maintenance to clean several municipally owned buildings, including municipal hall, the RCMP detachment, the public works building and the recreation centre. Evergreen's bid came in at $68,968 annually, by far the lowest of the eight tenders received. LA Beamish of Summerland, which had the contract since 2005, was the second-lowest bidder at $110,505 annually. Tenders, which included bids from Calgary and Delta, were as high as $193,500 annually. Although staff and council were satisfied with the service offered by LA Beamish, cost was the determining factor. Director of finance Ken Ostraat told council that Evergreen has contracts with several other municipalities, including Penticton, Kelowna and West Kelowna, and that the company received favourable reviews. Ostraat acknowledged that staff were pleased with LA Beamish's service, but admitted, "It's impossible to have no complaints (on custodial work), no matter with what contractor. Any time we did have issues, it was corrected." Ostraat said because the custodial contract includes the RCMP detachment, additional security clearance is required of all employees. "The only defining point was the dollar value, and it's not insignificant - it's 25 per cent. It would be a lot harder decision to make if it was only a five per cent difference," Ostraat said. "That's $40,000 a year and two-thirds of a percentage point of taxes." Mayor Janice Perrino said it's now required by law that municipalities accept the lowest bid unless there are extraordinary circumstances to support taking a higher-priced tender. She doubts the argument of "staying local" would hold up in court if the losing bidder chooses to sue. Perrino noted council faced a similar situation recently with a garbage contract. (more)
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Don Quixote Note: From Annual Contracts: City of Vernon:
| FAC-11-7 | Janitorial Services - Civic Buildings | Sep-16-2011 | Sep-30-2013 | 2 (1) Yr | Evergreen Bldg Maintenance | $116,928.00 |
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