By Bill Adams
I was going to title this “As fire chief, I’ve got a job to do” but decided against it. Why pick Life Lesson No. 152? Well, if you learn something new twice a day for your whole life, then I’m on number 152. Just kidding. I learn at least one new thing every day and usually try to remember one thing I learned yesterday but forgot this morning. It happens to older people.
I went over to the fire station for morning coffee and five Raisin Squad members were in attendance; four were past chiefs. It was like a reunion at the old age home. In 40 minutes, we laid more hose and put out more fires quicker and faster than the department did in the last 10 years. As customary, we didn’t get tired, wet, dirty, nor did we work up a sweat. Anyhow, one geezer mentioned that a department we both know a couple counties over had a bid opening and an unexpected bidder showed up and ended up getting the job.
Getting blindsided at a bid opening sounded interesting and warranted a full investigation—after naptime. I’ve known people in that department for more than 40 years. Come to find out the current chief used to hang around the station back in the early ‘80s with his father who was a volunteer. I was selling fire trucks before this kid got close enough to a fire to get warm, and now he’s wearing five horns, drives the chief’s car, and buys fire trucks!
I figured I’d have fun busting his chops again. It’s been a long time since I harassed him. We exchanged some emails and a couple phone calls. They indeed purchased a pumper via the competitive bidding process from a vendor they had not previously interacted with. He sent me a copy of his specs. I asked some prying questions and must admit I was surprised at his answers.
*It’s a wonder you got more than one bid the way the specs were written. “They were based around a previous purchase—not exactly but close. And yes, our committee did meet with more than one vendor.”
*Did you guys meet with the vendor who was the low bidder? “No, but after the bid advertisement they called several times and emailed with lots of questions. The other bidders didn’t ask many questions during bid process, and we hadn’t met with them for some time before the bid opening.”
*Were there many exceptions? “We didn’t spell out ‘no exception’ but in a few places. All of the bidders had exceptions listed BUT all were easily and appropriately explained away. Most were manufacturing processes but again, no exceptions explained were outside of ‘normal’ fire service standards. You could probably have a field day and sell tickets on my statement above of ‘normal,’ but everyone has a slight twist to getting stuff done.”
We discussed the various exceptions including some the bidders referred to as clarifications. As he noted, they mostly reflected various methods of construction unique to each manufacturer and were not detrimental to the intent of the specifications.
*Were you happy with the bids received? “From the outset, my goal was getting several bids. I have a political side of the process here. It’s the taxpayers’ money with political oversight whose only education of the fire service is what I tell them. Some of our guys don’t understand the political process. We have a lot to protect besides the citizens’ homes and lives. Integrity and ethics matter. A lot of self-appointed experts and big thinkers are nowhere to be found when things don’t go well with the politicians. I’ve been in the hot seat a couple of times in the past from listening to some of our experts’ nonsense. I’m not up for that anymore.”
*Why did you go with the low bidder? “Like I said before, there was no compelling reasons not to. I had looked at their trucks before at the State Chief’s. Perso