Ready for another round of backstabbing, intrigue and subterfuge over the property, flood, windstorm , hail, and boiler machinery insurance bidding for 2014-2015?
It's coming to a school district near you. In fact, it will be an item on the Brownsville Independent School District's agenda tonight. At stake, a check for the premium drawn on the BISD's budget that topped $3,928,499 last year and will approach the same figure this budget year.
Four companies answered the calls for Request For Proposals 15-081 issued by the BISD purchasing department, although two were said not to meet specifications by Employee Benefits Administrator Judy Cuellar who sat as one of the four committee members who evaluated the bids.
Among those were some familiar names like Kenneth Lieck, Ken Whittenmore, Cuellar, and a staff member from purchasing.Their recommendation was that the board award the financial plum to McGriff, Siebles and Williams of Texas, Inc., the same company who has held the contract for the last eight years. And even thought they excluded the Montalvo Insurance Co. and the Klement Agency and rated American Financial Ins. Services behind McGriff, the board members have until January 31 to make a final choice and either follow the recommendation or ignore it and select their own.
There are many factors that go into the awarding of this contract. The past performance of the company, whether it has an agent of record, whether it is solvent to handle large claims, etc., all figure into the decision.
The intrigue reaches all manner of proportions. For example, the current policy holder – McGriff – in order to sweeten the pie, lowered his premium from $3.928 million to $3.661 million, but raised the deductible to offset the loss. Some of the companies have complained that committee members have overlooked the lower costs they submitted and were willing to have the district pay more to retain the same insurer.
Some evaluation committee members like Cuellar have already seemed to favor the current insurer over the others even though board members have questions about their recommendation. At a recent workshop, Cuellar was grilled on the selection and her answers were not altogether convincing.
The meeting to discuss the issue is scheduled for tonight at BISD's main office at 1900 E. Price Road. It is titled:
E. Recommend approval of the following Bid(s)/Proposal(s)/Purchase(s):
24. Recommend awarding CSP #15-081 Property, Flood, Windstorm, Hail, Boiler and Machinery Insurance as recommended by Administration with an option to renew for two additional years.
We're sure there will be plenty of questions from board members and the public about this award. After all, writing a check for more than$3.5 million every year to cover some losses that may not even occur is not to be taken lightly.
10 comments:
Tell me you think these tiny little agencies do enough work to earn three and a half million dollars.
We can only hope that the BISD "Trustees" take actions with the tax payer in mind. Too often BISD decisions are based on how it lines the pockets of the Trustees or administrators in BISD. We can only hope there is an honest majority.
Do these people (BISD committee members) know that the Teachers Retirement System and the Texas Legislature has up for a vote in May the raise of premiums for current school district employees that contribute to TRS Care? Is the Brownsville ISD aware that other school districts make their employees pay anywhere from 10 to 20% of their insurance premiums? (Charter Schools do that)If Blue Cross is their current insurance carrier, they raise their deductable and lower their premiums and come out the same. There are at least 3 other insurance companies with BETTER rates and lower premiums and deductables. WHO is benefiting from getting the same insurance carrier?
We wonder whose Palms were greased . Cuellar doesn't have to answere to the taxpayers. Once bids /proposals are submitted according to specs, a company Cannot change benefits nor include add-ons to sweeten the pie. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
Ya deja la botella JUan! Vato flojo!
I went to inspect the insurance information at the Glass Palace; was informed that The info couldn't br released because it hadn't been Processed " yet. Whatever that means.! It is a known axiom that Palms are greased when we have these events. The Pirañas come to feed .
A reunion gathering of Piranhas.
Who is the Head Piranha in BISD ? Answer: the one with the largest Palm.
Lets hope that the new task force is aware of this contract. The taxpayers are sick of this.
Keep on hoping!
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