Town: Lowest Bidder Not The Best Choice

Is the lowest bid always the best bid?

On April 26, the school building committee awarded a $1.393 million contract to Allied Restoration of East Hartford for all roof work at Waterford High School. The board chose Allied despite its bid coming in $62,000 higher than Silktown Roofing’s $1.331 million bid.

The reason was because Silktown installed two other roofs for the town, one at Quaker Hill Elementary School and one at the Friendship School, and both had issues, School Buildings and Grounds Director Jay Miner said. Also, when the town complained about the problems, Silktown did not respond well, with the town hiring other contractors in some cases to fix the problems, he said.

Following the decision, Manchester-based Silktown filed an injunction to terminate the contract between Allied Restoration and the building committee. Silktown has since revoked its injunction, although board of education lawyers and Silktown lawyers are in discussions, Miner said.

“I hope we can settle this,” he said.

The Rules

Waterford’s ordinances say contracts are awarded to “the qualified vendor with the lowest price.” Qualified becomes the key word in this case, as the town is allowed to use “ability of the contractor to perform the contract, prior performance, and the ability to complete the contract terms in a timely manner” to determine if a company is qualified.

Waterford is arguing that based on prior performance, it chose Allied Restoration over Silktown. In an affidavit, building committee member Michael Cannamela said the board reviewed the work Silktown did at Quaker Hill and the Friendship School and the work Allied Restoration did at Clark Lane Middle School, and decided it was in the best interest to pick Allied Restoration.

Additionally, the town submitted documents showing mistakes regarding the Friendship School’s roof. It submitted a report to the court from an inspector who showed problems with seaming and puddling on the roof.

Because of bad seaming on the roof and leaking, there has been damage to sheet rock and soffit at the Friendship School, Miner said.

In August, after meeting in executive session to discuss “pending litigation,” the school building committee voted to approve $3,000 for a third party to examine the roof at Quaker Hill Elementary School. This was to provide the court more hard evidence regarding Silktown, Miner said.

Silktown’s lawyers argued the company had elite status with the Sika Sarnafil Partnership Club, higher than Allied Restoration's. A Friday voicemail to Silktown was not returned.

Philosophy

In a recent interview, First Selectman Dan Steward said there are some issues with having to award contracts to the lowest bidder. It is good in some ways, to avoid corruption and to ensure fiscal responsibility, but other times it can be troublesome, Steward said.

“Sometimes, you get what you pay for,” he said.

And when companies with the lowest bid are not selected, they are quick to turn to their attorneys, as in the case of Silktown, Steward said. It is another example of how litigious America has become, and how desperately the state and federal governments need to pass tort reform, Steward said.

That won’t happen though, because tort reform would hurt lawyers, and most of the country's lawmakers are lawyers, Steward said.

“Look who runs our country,” he said. “The vast majority of our congressmen and senators are attorneys.”