Special to El Rrun-Rrun
It took three meetings, but the City of Brownsville Commission and administration finally put a pesky $2.8 million issue to rest.
At issue was a vote April 21 where a majority of the commission - by a 6-1 vote - approved awarding a $2.8 million street, sidewalk and drainage construction contract for Anacua Street that turns into Naranjo Road east of U.S. 77/83 and where it meets Old Alice Road.
At the time, although the Finance Dept. had recommended awarding it to the lowest bidder, Total Commitment Construction of Mission Texas, the majority voted to award it to G&T Paving, the Brownsville bidder, even though their bid was $84,000 higher based on the belief they had the option for local preference, if not best value, or the city.
During the April 21 meeting, the Finance department recommended that the lowest bidder, Total Commitment Construction Co., of Mission, be awarded the contract in the amount of $2,810,332.75.
But then, under questioning from commission members on whether they could award the contract to local bidder G&T Paving under the "local preference" option, the staff said they could.
Under the "local preference " option, if the second-lowest bidder is from the city, commissioners are allowed to award it the contract if it's within 5 percent of the lowest bid.
G&T's bid was $2,894,709.60, $84,377 higher than Total Commitment Construction's low bid of $2,810,332.75. However, the commission was told by the Finance reps at the meeting that the amount was well within the 5 percent allowed under the local preference, which was $140,516.
Only commissioner Jessica Tereau voted against the award saying that even if the extra $84,377 above the lowest bid stayed in Brownsville, to her it was still too much.
And the "best value" consideration is not applicable in awarding the the local bidder. contract, Finance said.
"We also reviewed Texas Local Government Code Section 252 (Best Value) which provides the ability to award contracts to a non-lowest bidder. Section 252 is not allowable for street construction projects."
On Tuesday, Finance Director Lupe Granado apologized to the commission for what he called "a simple failure on our part" and recommended that the Hidalgo County be awarded the bid.
"There was incorrect information provided by this department on this item," he explained.
"How was it that no one picked up on this?," Mayor Trey Mendez asked Granado. "This was tabled at a meeting prior to April 21. This is like Purchasing 101. Frankly, I'm not happy about it. It reflects on us badly."
As we said earlier, eating crow is never pretty, but in the end, commissioner Ben Neece bit the bullet and made the motion to rescind the April 21 vote and award the bid to Total Commitment Construction, the lowest bidder. The rest of the commission joined him in the vote.
23 comments:
Everything is better in the upper valley. Especially contractors, construction companies, Engineers. All the ones in Brownsville are extremely corrupt. I could name 3 or 4 but I won’t.
Trump would do the work faster and cheaper.
Lawsuit coming. Idiots.
Finance Director Lupe Granado is a inept and worthless city employee! That or there's something fishy going on...like maybe he's getting a nice kickback! He should be fire! Bernal dies have the balls to fire him!
Now that Robert Luna is no longer working for the city, Lupe Granado is probably getting a kickback for helping G&T paving in getting the bid! Pinche Bernal should investigate the Finance Department for making an unbelievable mistake! I'm sure nothing will be done?
Got my $1,200 check!
Trump’s Too Stupid to Do Better. McConnell and His Republicans Have No Excuse.
Brownsville leadership is embarrassing. Kickback capitol of South Texas.
I believe sexual abuse victims but only the ones that claim the were abused by Republicans.
@ 6:57, Why don't you name them, your already Anonymous anyway, have the balls to back it up. So we can all know what you know. What you should say is our finance Dept messed up again and did not do their job. They fired Robert Luna and left an idiot in charge. They should have checked that,They should have never given the local contractor that 5% preference because of the street construction stipulation.This is the city Finance Dept. fault all the way and they should take the fall.
G& T is a good company and has done business in this city for over 40 yrs. They will get other contracts with this city. The finance Department messed up bottom line. It's embarrassing that they couldn't do their homework and give the commissioners the right direction on this bid.
City manager should take responsibilityfor this mess, everything goes thru him for approval. Where is the leadrship?
Doroteo Garcia is one Engineering Director who should be fired...He can never be found when really needed!
un chino se comio un murcielago
shit went wrong after that......
Lupe is not a CPA just like old Pete was not a CPA, and these are the people running the department for decades. Why?
@8:26 Don't worry about Doroteo Garcia! They are hiring a new engineer que es mojado to take over Engineering /Traffic department! That's the city for you!!!
"A new engineer que es mojado."
So what the hell is Doroteo...Gabacho!
No la chingues. Just because Doroteo is a member of the white beard posse doesn't make him white. Tiene el nopal en la frente, el aguila en la espalda y el frijol negro pegado en los dientes.
funny at April 30, 2020 at 3:10 PM hope its not a pinche gringo or a coco that posted that funny shit!
Its call tooth decay somebody please give him a toothbrush and some lysol.
Doroteo Garcia is a Coco elite wannabe!!! Bernal is bring mojados like the one in charge of HR and this engineer. Also brought one of his girlfriend to work for the city! That's the city for you! We need Cabler back!
There many other city employees with college degrees from Mexico even maintenance workers and bus drivers but the city never recognized their degrees as valid, why did the city manager made an exception with the HR director? He probably knew her beforehand, Total Aligment? Total bullshit that is.
I am disappointed at the lack of courage from the commission to stand up for our city. Best value is measured not just by the $80,000 difference in bid, but what each company contributes to our city and it is obvious the McAllen company leaves nothing for out city, but will take everything back to McAllen. I am sure they will give preference to McAllen when hiring, buying materials, gas, and they will contribute to McAllen's sales tax and ad valorem budget contributions. Maybe this commission knows more about best value than some of us and perhaps McAllen voters will influence the next election in Brownsville. So disappointed, I would have never given preference to an outside company for such a small difference in a big contract like this one. I am sure if the roles were reversed where the McAllen city commission had to vote for an outsider given the same circumstances, they would not award the contract to the company from Brownsville. G&T is a company that is solid, respected, and contributes a lot to our community. I am sorry they got screwed.
Mcallen would never seek bids out of their area PERIOD. They are not stupid
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