Special to El Rrun-Rrun
Without a word of discussion, a unanimous City of Brownsville Commission voted Tuesday to vacate its action taken at the meeting of February 5, 2019 purporting to award the waste services contract to a specific bidder.
Instead, the commission directed City Manager Noel Bernal to "identify a qualified provider to provide commercial and industrial solid waste disposal services for the City of Brownsville and to negotiate a contract for such services."
The lack of discussion belied the fact that there is threatened litigation by one firm - if not more now - over the apparent offer award of the lucrative contract, first to Redfish Recycling, and then to Allied (now Republic) Waste.
The Request For Proposals was made back in July 2017. The city commission - after discussing it in executive session on February 5, 2019, voted to award it to Republic.
This came as a surprise to Redfish Recycling who provided a timeline stating that they had been notified by City Purchasing that they had received letter from the city March 19, 2018 that they were the highest ranked proposer and were asked to submit additional information to verify it was responsive and responsible” in order to proceed with negotiation of contract.
Redfish claimed that it submits responses to satisfy COB’s request for additional information but then received a draft April 19, 2018 from the city for review with the specifications changed.
In a meeting April 20, 2018, the timeline states that city Purchasing Director Robert Luna and Purchasing Agent Jose Perez agreed to change the contract specifications back to what was presented in the RFP.
The Redfish timeline claims that on May 14, 2018, and despite the agreement reached by the parties at the negotiation meeting, the city presented Redfish officials with a “final” contract with the city's changes to the original specifications contained in the RFP still included. Redfish claimed that the unilateral and material changes made by the city to the contract resulted in a greater than $61 million difference from the contract that was presented in the RFP.
Later, the Redfish officials found out that the city was in talks with Allied/Republic that ultimately was awarded the contract by the city commission.
Now, with the action taken today, it appears that the process - which is heading toward two years to complete - will be just a little longer unless the issue lands in court as it appears it will. On the one hand, Redfish says it had received notice it was the highest-ranked proposal and were in negotiations with the city, and on the other, Republic could claim the February 5 announcement indicates that it was chosen for the contract.
One can almost hear the lawsuits landing on the bench of a local district court.
In a meeting April 20, 2018, the timeline states that city Purchasing Director Robert Luna and Purchasing Agent Jose Perez agreed to change the contract specifications back to what was presented in the RFP.
The Redfish timeline claims that on May 14, 2018, and despite the agreement reached by the parties at the negotiation meeting, the city presented Redfish officials with a “final” contract with the city's changes to the original specifications contained in the RFP still included. Redfish claimed that the unilateral and material changes made by the city to the contract resulted in a greater than $61 million difference from the contract that was presented in the RFP.
Later, the Redfish officials found out that the city was in talks with Allied/Republic that ultimately was awarded the contract by the city commission.
Now, with the action taken today, it appears that the process - which is heading toward two years to complete - will be just a little longer unless the issue lands in court as it appears it will. On the one hand, Redfish says it had received notice it was the highest-ranked proposal and were in negotiations with the city, and on the other, Republic could claim the February 5 announcement indicates that it was chosen for the contract.
One can almost hear the lawsuits landing on the bench of a local district court.