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Potential Vendors Ask for Changes in Tennessee’s Contract Bid Process for Radios

The state’s procurement process flared briefly into controversy during a conference with potential bidders, when one vendor suggested the current contractor appeared to have drafted some of the procurement documents.

State procurement officials are reviewing their draft requirements for a major new contract for radio equipment in response to suggestions by potential vendors that the draft would exclude most vendors from bidding and thus cost taxpayers money.

The state Department of General Services is in the process of awarding a new contract worth millions of dollars for all radio equipment and its maintenance, repairs, parts and accessories purchased by the state over the next five years.

The contract allows any city and county government in Tennessee, and some nonprofit agencies, to buy the same products and services at the same prices. Local governments and agencies that want to try to get lower prices have to draft their own specifications and go through their own bidding processes, but vendors say about 80 percent of public-service radios are purchased using state contracts.

The state’s procurement process flared briefly into controversy during a conference with potential bidders Sept. 4 when a vendor suggested the current contractor appeared to have drafted some of the procurement documents. The vendor made the assertion after clicking on the “properties” tab of a computer file among the documents given to vendors for review, which listed as its “author” the Tennessee sales representative for Motorola Solutions Inc., the current contractor. The conference ended as other vendors asked about the fairness of the process.

But spokesmen for Motorola and the state Department of General Services said the company had no role in drafting the documents and that the assertion was based on a misunderstanding.

“Motorola did not author any of the procurement documents. In the course of preparing information for the intended radio purchase, state procurement professionals reviewed existing information, including past radio purchases for the state. One of the documents reviewed was an invoice in the form of an Excel spreadsheet from Motorola for a radio purchase. This same Excel spreadsheet was then used as the template for the entire Cost Proposal and Evaluation Guide included in the RFQ (Request for Qualifications from vendors for the contract). Motorola did not author the ... Guide, nor did Motorola know that our procurement staff would be using its invoice as a template in that way,” David Roberson, director of communications for the state agency, said.

Motorola spokesman Steve Gorecki agreed, and said the company was “absolutely not” involved in any anti-competitive activities.

Three representatives of competing vendors interviewed for this article asked not to be identified because the bid process is still underway, but state officials acknowledged the allegation was made at the end of the conference.

But some potential vendors say only Motorola, the industry giant in public-service radio equipment, could qualify for several of the nine categories of radio equipment for which contracts will be awarded under the current draft requirements. The state plans to award a single contract for each category, and each category has sub-categories of radio equipment.

Some vendors have written to the department’s Central Procurement Office asking to consider multiple contracts for each category, which would allow more vendors to bid, increasing cost competition. Some vendors meet the specifications for some sub-categories but cannot bid on the full category because they don’t manufacture all the radios in all the sub-categories.

The General Services Department says it is considering that request.

“The CPO is taking under advisement the questions, concerns, and comments of the vendor community and state agencies and will reach a decision as to what, if any, additional changes need to be made to ensure the maximum amount of competition and responsiveness to the needs of state agencies,” Roberson said.

Cost bids are due in October and those submitted by qualified bidders are set to be opened and scored Oct. 27. The contract is to be awarded by Dec. 22.

©2014 The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tenn.)