OOPs

The salesman from a firm with locations in Waukesha, Osseo and DePere participated in public comment at the last meeting was concerned about an equipment purchase made by the Light and Water Utility. The following will explain the conditions around the purchase and related information.
The definition of “public contract” has been previously interpreted by the Wisconsin Attorney General not to include equipment. Attorney General opinions have stated that farm machinery, a police car, and a heavy movable engine constitute equipment, are not supplies or material, and therefore are not subject to competitive bidding requirements.
Although the city has no formal standard for purchase of equipment, it has followed similar purchasing standards to the public contract. There are exceptions to this standard for equipment bidding when the equipment is used the equipment is considered unique/one-of-a-kind and this makes the vendor a sole source provider. The John Deere plow/mower and the ladder truck were purchases of this type.
Sole-source purchases are goods and services available from only one supplier. There may be just one vendor because of patents or copyrights or simply because the vendor is the only one which supplies the good or service. These purchases are exempt from the standard bidding equirement.
There are a number of reasons the city may occasionally use sole-source purchases. Sole-source purchases must be strictly controlled, since they do not follow a competitive process.
Under most conditions, a sole-source purchase should be the subject of a certain amount of negotiation. The lack of competition may otherwise result in a severe case of seller’s market, where the seller can charge unreasonably high prices. The purchaser should prepare a detailed list of requirements relating to delivery, quality, performance and other conditions, and be prepared to withhold the purchase to ensure compliance. The buyer should do everything possible to strengthen his bargaining position.
The purchasing Utility brought in five similar models of the vacuum trailer and demonstrated each for several days. A price and performance comparison was made and reviewed before the decision was made to select the used piece of equipment. The documentation is included in the packet.
Its’ unfortunate that a quality vendor was missed in the process and staff will attempt to review the vendors list closer in the future, but the process was within both the state and city legal requirements for this type of purchase.