hard deadlines

After extensive discussion and a trip into executive session, the Portsmouth Town Council tonight voted unanimously to reject the single bid received for operating the transfer station for the next three years and issue a new request for proposals. Representatives from the current facility operator, Waste Management, successfully made their case to the Council that there were issues with the bid process which led to them not submitting a proposal.

"I don't know if Council actually saw the notice in the Providence Journal of April 10, said attorney Donna Lamontagne, representing Waste Management, "But it doesn't make reference to the pre-bid conference." Instead, she noted, it pointed people to the on-line system used by the town, provided by a company called Novus Vendor. This on-line system may have failed to deliver notifications to potentially interested bidders, she said, and there were even questions about whether the RFP had been listed. "I called Novus Vendor in Florida," said Lamontagne, "and he had no record of the bid having been posted."

While several on the council raised questions about fairness to the sole bidder, and possible implications for future contracts, the sense of the group by the end of the evening was to go back out to bid.

Town Administrator Bob Driscoll took advantage of Waste Management's presence to ask if they would extend the current contract by 60 days to accommodate preparation of the new RFP, and they agreed.

Note: I know I usually try to write this stuff up fast, but I've got early meetings in the morning. I'll try to fill in more details tomorrow, but that's the nut.