By Bill Adams

This article is a follow-up to “Apparatus Purchasing: The Confusing World of Exceptions” (Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment, June 2018). According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, the word “unsolicited” means “unwelcome, undesirable, and annoying.”

When bidders submit unsolicited pricing in the fire truck world, the result can cause confusion and ill feelings between bidders, purchasers, and the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ). Nobody wants ill feelings with the AHJ. After all, the AHJ signs the check for a new rig. The result may be an apparatus the fire department does not want and, more importantly, one that may not meet the department’s desired operational criteria. You can and should avoid it.

Not all bids are prepared by a local dealer or its sales staff. Where there is no local representation and in cases of extraordinary circumstances, bids might be submitted factory direct. Herein, “vendor” and “bidder” refer to whoever submits the proposal. Vendors submitting unasked-for pricing usually do so in the guise of an alternate bid or an optional bid, explained below.

Reasons for Unsolicited Pricing

There are two reasons bidders submit unsolicited pricing. The first, which most vendors readily proclaim, is to offer the fire department cost savings that the department may not have considered. The other, which I subscribe to, is that the vendor is cunningly offering pricing to give the vendor an unfair advantage in the competitive bidding process—a harsh but true statement.

In my opinion, the earlier reason is not justifiable. The vendor should have made the fire department aware of possible cost savings before the specifications were written and before bids were submitted. That itself is a valid reason to hold a prebid conference. If the vendor didn’t have the opportunity to meet with the fire department beforehand, it could be because the vendor wasn’t aware of what was happening in his territory. Or, the fire department did not want to meet with the vendor. Perhaps the purchaser did not want the vendor’s rig. In either scenario, the vendor was late for the show, and submitting unsolicited pricing just creates discord.

The other reason for seeking an unfair advantage in the bidding process could be construed as being at the least unethical and at the most unscrupulous. Every vendor wants the order, and most are aboveboard and honest in securing it. Granted, some of their efforts may push the boundaries of ethics and integrity to the limit. And, there are some who cross the line knowingly.

Purchasers should consider a vendor’s intent when scrutinizing unwanted pricing. Likewise, vendors should be aware of the precarious and unjustified position they can place the fire department in when submitting such pricing. They may never again be welcome in the purchaser’s fire station.

Educating the Decision Makers

It is reasonable to expect that the fire department and its apparatus purchasing committee (APC) are in sync with the particulars of a new rig. It is equally logical that the AHJ has been made aware of what the fire department wants to purchase and the reasoning thereof. Not every AHJ is firematically oriented. Educating the AHJ is a key factor in purchasing. In larger political subdivisions, a fire apparatus purchase may be evaluated by some obscure bureaucrat who may not know the difference between a dump truck and a fire truck, a custom