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Public Bidding Lax For Engineers Northampton County Exec Says All Contracts Are Competitive
Public Bidding Lax For Engineers Northampton County Exec Says All Contracts Are Competitive. But Some Political Donors Seldom Compete.
February 13, 2000by NANCY AVERETT, The Morning Call
Northampton County Executive Glenn Reibman prides himself on the fact that he publicly advertises for bids before deciding who gets professional service contracts with the county, something he is not required to do.
But when it comes to hiring engineers, the Reibman administration may not have as competitive a process as other counties.
In 1998,van cleef arpels earrings alhambra replica, the Reibman administration selected two firms,van cleef clover earrings replica, Van Cleef Engineering of Bethlehem and Base Engineering Inc. of Allentown, and gave them open ended long term contracts. Those contracts allow the county to give those companies most of its engineering projects without additional public bidding.
In 1998 and 1999, Van Cleef billed the county $350,000. In 1999,van cleef & arpels earrings replica, Base Engineering billed the county $82,000. Both firms have employees who are contributors to Reibman's campaign fund. Van Cleef's have given $5,000. An employee at Base Engineering has given $500.
In addition, Van Cleef subcontracts county work to the architectural firm Cordaro Stevenson Associates of Bethlehem, which has an employee who has contributed $1,100 to Reibman. That firm was paid $150,000 for county work in 1999.
On June 25 and June 30,replica van cleef mini alhambra earrings, 1998, the Reibman administration ran an advertisement in local newspapers, asking for a firm to perform general engineering services for the county.
Eight companies applied and a committee that included county solicitor John Spirk and county Administration Director James Hickey evaluated the proposals. The committee chose Van Cleef and Base Engineering.
Because of the range of services and varying prices proposed by the firms that competed for the contract, it is difficult to determine which company was the low bidder.
As to when Van Cleef and Base Engineering were awarded their contracts, the details are fuzzy. Reibman and his staff, though, said they have created a paper trail so the public can scrutinize how they award professional service contracts.
Hickey said the two firms were probably told they were hired in August or September, but he said it might be difficult to find the letter sent to the firms. He said it's possible they were notified verbally.
In addition, Van Cleef and Base Engineering began working for the county months before any contracts were signed. Van Cleef, for instance, began work in October 1998 but did not sign a contract until the following June. Base began work about the same time but did not sign a contract until the following April.
Hickey said it took time for the county's legal staff to create the contracts because they did not have a satisfactory professional services contract leftover from Brackbill's administration.
The administration's lack of organization of bids and contracts was criticized in a report last year from county Controller John Schimmell who noted that, at times, contract documentation was missing because of clerical mishaps.
Hickey said they are working to correct such problems. Nothing was in place when (the Reibman administration ) took over, he said. It's been a constantly evolving process.
He and Reibman insist that Northampton is one of the few counties that publicly bid out professional service contractors. They say, Republican Bill Brackbill, the county administrator prior to Reibman, never had such a competitive process in place.
In some counties, they just give them out, Reibman said. They just call up whomever they want and say here's a job for you. We've changed the way that's done.
But Brackbill and officials from two neighboring counties Lehigh and Bucks say that is not quite the case.
Lehigh County officials say they, too, advertise publicly before awarding such contracts. Bucks County officials say they may not run an ad in the newspaper, but they solicit proposals from a number of firms and evaluate them before giving out contracts.
Brackbill said he followed a procedure similar to Bucks County's. He also said that his administration undertook very few construction projects. And he said with one of the major projects, a $9 million renovation to the county juvenile justice center, courthouse employees were asked to help with the selection of who got the contract.
Alvin H. Butz Inc., a construction management firm, won that contract. Brackbill said the company is the only one with a county contract that donated to his campaign. A Butz employee gave $500. The juvenile justice center project continued under Reibman's administration and Butz's employees have since given more than $6,500 to Reibman's fund.
And while Reibman's administration publicly advertised for the general engineering position, it did something that several other area counties don't do awarded long term, open ended contracts and routinely award projects to Van Cleef and Base without additional bidding.
Public Bidding Lax For Engineers Northampton County Exec Says All Contracts Are Competitive. But Some Political Donors Seldom Compete.
February 13, 2000by NANCY AVERETT, The Morning Call
Northampton County Executive Glenn Reibman prides himself on the fact that he publicly advertises for bids before deciding who gets professional service contracts with the county, something he is not required to do.
But when it comes to hiring engineers, the Reibman administration may not have as competitive a process as other counties.
In 1998,van cleef arpels earrings alhambra replica, the Reibman administration selected two firms,van cleef clover earrings replica, Van Cleef Engineering of Bethlehem and Base Engineering Inc. of Allentown, and gave them open ended long term contracts. Those contracts allow the county to give those companies most of its engineering projects without additional public bidding.
In 1998 and 1999, Van Cleef billed the county $350,000. In 1999,van cleef & arpels earrings replica, Base Engineering billed the county $82,000. Both firms have employees who are contributors to Reibman's campaign fund. Van Cleef's have given $5,000. An employee at Base Engineering has given $500.
In addition, Van Cleef subcontracts county work to the architectural firm Cordaro Stevenson Associates of Bethlehem, which has an employee who has contributed $1,100 to Reibman. That firm was paid $150,000 for county work in 1999.
On June 25 and June 30,replica van cleef mini alhambra earrings, 1998, the Reibman administration ran an advertisement in local newspapers, asking for a firm to perform general engineering services for the county.
Eight companies applied and a committee that included county solicitor John Spirk and county Administration Director James Hickey evaluated the proposals. The committee chose Van Cleef and Base Engineering.
Because of the range of services and varying prices proposed by the firms that competed for the contract, it is difficult to determine which company was the low bidder.
As to when Van Cleef and Base Engineering were awarded their contracts, the details are fuzzy. Reibman and his staff, though, said they have created a paper trail so the public can scrutinize how they award professional service contracts.
Hickey said the two firms were probably told they were hired in August or September, but he said it might be difficult to find the letter sent to the firms. He said it's possible they were notified verbally.
In addition, Van Cleef and Base Engineering began working for the county months before any contracts were signed. Van Cleef, for instance, began work in October 1998 but did not sign a contract until the following June. Base began work about the same time but did not sign a contract until the following April.
Hickey said it took time for the county's legal staff to create the contracts because they did not have a satisfactory professional services contract leftover from Brackbill's administration.
The administration's lack of organization of bids and contracts was criticized in a report last year from county Controller John Schimmell who noted that, at times, contract documentation was missing because of clerical mishaps.
Hickey said they are working to correct such problems. Nothing was in place when (the Reibman administration ) took over, he said. It's been a constantly evolving process.
He and Reibman insist that Northampton is one of the few counties that publicly bid out professional service contractors. They say, Republican Bill Brackbill, the county administrator prior to Reibman, never had such a competitive process in place.
In some counties, they just give them out, Reibman said. They just call up whomever they want and say here's a job for you. We've changed the way that's done.
But Brackbill and officials from two neighboring counties Lehigh and Bucks say that is not quite the case.
Lehigh County officials say they, too, advertise publicly before awarding such contracts. Bucks County officials say they may not run an ad in the newspaper, but they solicit proposals from a number of firms and evaluate them before giving out contracts.
Brackbill said he followed a procedure similar to Bucks County's. He also said that his administration undertook very few construction projects. And he said with one of the major projects, a $9 million renovation to the county juvenile justice center, courthouse employees were asked to help with the selection of who got the contract.
Alvin H. Butz Inc., a construction management firm, won that contract. Brackbill said the company is the only one with a county contract that donated to his campaign. A Butz employee gave $500. The juvenile justice center project continued under Reibman's administration and Butz's employees have since given more than $6,500 to Reibman's fund.
And while Reibman's administration publicly advertised for the general engineering position, it did something that several other area counties don't do awarded long term, open ended contracts and routinely award projects to Van Cleef and Base without additional bidding.
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