By Bill Adams
The apparatus purchasing committee (APC) represents the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ), which in this article is any political subdivision subject to a competitive bidding protocol. It's also referred to as the purchaser or the fire department. "Vendor" is synonymous with dealer, salesperson, manufacturer, or whoever sells fire trucks.
When writing fire apparatus purchasing specifications (specs), fire departments can initiate a bizarre chain of events that defies logic. Included are peculiar trends and strange changes in human behavior. Some are foreseeable while others are not. Everyone knows it happens; most don't know why. Few admit it. Some don't care. And, nobody wants to address legality and ethical correctness.
Welcome to the hidden world of spec writing where abnormal behavior can occur daily but is seldom acknowledged. Some in the fire service believe if the subject is ignored, it will quietly go away. Others erroneously believe APCs are immune from reality and reality's ramifications. They may be sadly mistaken. The public bidding arena is becoming more competitive. The future may find purchasers held more accountable for their actions than they have been in the past. Times are changing-be prepared.
Getting Help
Many suburban volunteer and small career fire departments purchase fire apparatus on an infrequent basis. Consequently, some need help with their specs and select a preferred vendor "to work with." That is a polite way of saying that the vendor is going to "help" the APC write its purchasing specifications. Quite often, the vendor physically writes the entire document. It's a common practice of questionable legality that fire departments would rather not discuss. Nonpreferred vendors may grouse about the practice, but most reluctantly accept it. They've been on both sides of the fence.
After choosing a vendor, the APC makes a decision to write, or have written for it, an open or a proprietary spec or some combination thereof. In my opinion, most fire departments write specs tailored around a specific manufacturer. It's commonplace and, again, most purchasers disavow knowledge of the practice. A trend of denial is becoming apparent. I am not criticizing purchasers who know whose rig they are going to buy and write proprietary specifications to ensure it. Judgment is not passed on using the public bidding process to legally justify a predetermined decision. Regardless of being right, wrong, or indifferent, those are local and personal decisions. However, there is a word of caution. Although purchasers may claim ignorance of their questionable spec-writing techniques, they should realize the rest of the world knows exactly what they are doing-and why. Vanity has no place in writing apparatus purchasing specifications. Fire departments adhering to a competitive public bidding protocol usually begrudge those that don't. They wish they too could just buy what they want minus the red tape. Ironically, most deny being envious-it's not professional. The denial trend continues.
Buyers, when asking a vendor to help write an open specification, exercise caution. Most vendors have been around the block more than once, and not every one of them qualifies for sainthood. They can influence specifications with astute usage of wording that promotes their products. Remember, their job is to sell, and most offer proprietary verbiage, albeit in disguise. Get over it. As a former dealer, I did it in the past, dealers do it today, and dealers will likely do it in the future. Most will not comment on the practice. The trend persists. Read vendor-prepared specifications very carefully. After an AHJ publishes a spec, it becomes a legal document with all parties playing in a highly regulated legal environment with real rules and real consequences.
Vendors can purposefully, as well as unintentionall