By Local Journalism Reporter Initiative Tyler Waugh
Mount Pearl City Council had to revisit the purchase of a half-ton pickup truck after the successful bidder reneged on its bid price, drawing the ire of Mayor Dave Aker at the July 21 public council meeting.
Council had awarded the tender for a half-ton regular cab 4x4 truck to Avalon Ford during its June 23 public meeting. Avalon was the lowest qualified bidder at a price of $68,300, plus HST, but notified the City afterward there was an error in the incentive pricing and the new quote was $6,000 more.
Councillor Isabelle Fry pointed out that since the City is unable to accept increases in prices after a tender closes, the purchase will need to be cancelled. Council voted to instead award the contract to the second-lowest qualified bidder, Hickman Motors at a cost of $77,741, plus HST.
Aker asked if there had been any security sought as part of the tender process and if Avalon relinquished that security as penalty, something he thought was common practice in a bidding process as a prequalification.
“Typically, when we buy something there is security laid down,” Aker said.
Public Works director Glen Dollimount told council that security was not sought on this tender but said security is sought for any tenders for heavy duty equipment.
“Whether that’s loaders, or trucks or garbage trucks or recycling trucks we always have a bonus and penalty, based on the tender, to be able to provide said equipment in a certain amount of time,” Dollimount said. “We haven’t had that same issue with light-duty vehicles; therefore we never had it on this particular tender.”
Aker suspected the practice of not requiring security on light-duty vehicle tenders may have stemmed from the COVID pandemic, when it was harder to get vehicles and bids.
“Normally you wouldn’t just get away with just withdrawing your lowest bid and saying, ‘I have to re-price it.’ That’s on Avalon Ford, that’s not on you, that’s not on us, but on the other hand we have to be wise to it, I guess, moving forward, in case it happens again,” Aker said, asking chief administrative officer Cassie Rideout to follow up with a review.
The irony is that Avalon’s revised quote would still have placed it as the lowest bidder by an estimated $3,400 before HST. The other two bids for the tender came from Capital Ford at $79,430, plus HST and Terra Nova Motors at $83,373 plus HST.
In that same original June 23 motion, Avalon had also been awarded the contract for the supply of a pair of three-quarter ton crew cab 4x4 trucks at a total cost of $154,968, plus HST. The pricing on that tender was not changed by Avalon and the contract remains in place.