Bidding presentation brings up minority contracting issues during Dougherty County Commission session

ALBANY — A report on the pre-bidding process during a Monday Dougherty County Commission meeting revived discussion on the question of adding more minority contractors into the mix of those doing government work.

Currently, contractors are basically required only to attend mandatory pre-bid sessions on projects that are complicated and require them to view a work site in order to make an informed bid, Yvette Fields, assistant city manager and director of the city’s Central Services Department, told commissioners. The vast majority of projects do not require attending an in-person session prior to the submission of bids.

The city of Albany provides purchasing services to the county through a contract with the county.

As an example, Fields gave painting projects.

“There you have to view certain rooms,” she said. “If they don’t see those rooms, they don’t know what they’re bidding on.”

Commissioners Victor Edwards and Gloria Gaines spoke in favor of requiring more mandatory pre-bid sessions with contractors.

While that may not be beneficial in every instance for companies that have done business with the county on a long-term basis, it could be for contractors trying to learn the process, Gaines said.

“We have to find a way to include more minority contractors in the spending of the money we collect from minorities,” she said. “Certainly one of the ways to do that is for minority contractors to be present at some of these pre-bid meetings.

“He’ll fully understand the bidding process; he’ll fully understand these forms. They’re not knowledgeable sometimes in the dotting of their ‘i’s’ and crossing of their ‘t’s’. Out of all the money collected in the community, we need to find a way to return some of this money to the community.”

Answering a question from Gaines on how more minority firms can be enlisted to participate, Fields said that has been an issue for years. Her department takes “a lot of extra steps” to encourage more minority contractors to seek work from the city and county.

“It has always been a challenge; it is still a challenge,” she said. “For the last couple of years, the city has been doing speed bumps. We call minority contractors; we call them repeatedly, and we only get one bid and it is not from a minority contractor.”

Speaking about a controversial bid that was rejected in February from a low-bid minority contractor on a Radium Springs trail project, Fields said it was not acceptable. The company also was not a new firm trying to get a start in doing work for local governments.

“His bid was unbalanced,” she said. “He front-loaded his bid. This was a material (failure). That trail, that contractor, he was not new. He was a contractor we’ve worked with for years.”

The contractor also owes the county money from a project related to the 1994 flood, Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas said.

Edwards said he also sees value in the pre-bid process, and suggested setting mandatory meetings for projects that exceed a certain dollar amount.

“(With) the mandatory pre-bid, if you weren’t there, you have no complaint,” Edwards said. “As a commissioner, I like the mandatory pre-bids. If you’re serious about doing business, it ought to be mandatory.”

File Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]