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Highlands Today

County Wants To Tweak 'Local Preference' On Bids

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By JIM KONKOLY

Highlands Today

Published: August 27, 2008

SEBRING - The Highlands County commissioners approved in theory giving local contractors and vendors an advantage in getting county contracts on Tuesday.

But they wanted the rules for the "local preference" policy fine tuned further.

As a result, county Administrator Michael Wright will tweak the policy and present it to the commissioners for a vote at the Sept. 9 county commission meeting.

As proposed by Jed Secory, the county's general services and purchasing director, the policy would work in this way:

•A local business would get the county contract for goods or services over an out-of-county competitor if the local company's bid is no more than 5 percent above the lowest out-of-county bid.

•The above rule would apply to what Secory and Wright call the "low end" contracts, up to a maximum of $250,000. That would allow a maximum over bid over the lower out-of-county bid of $12,500.

Commissioners Andy Jackson, Barbara Stewart and Guy Maxcy approved those numbers for the preference policy.

Wright, though, was instructed to re-do the "upper end" rules, for contracts above $250,000 that run into many millions of dollars.

Secory, after researching dozens of other local preference purchase policies throughout Florida, suggested a 2 percent over bid cap on these contracts, with no more than $40,000 allowed over a lower bid by an out-of-county firm.

Mike Secor, president of the Highlands County Builders Association, asked for two changes in the proposed policy.

First, in the definition of what is a "local" company, he wanted the company to be doing business primarily in Highlands County for two years, not the minimum six months in the proposed policy.

With Commissioners Don Bates and Edgar Stokes absent from the meeting, Maxcy, Jackson and Stewart agreed that the minimum time should be raised from six months to one year.
Secor also suggested a graduated or scaled percentage allowed on over bids by local companies in the upper end category of contracts for $250,000 and up into the millions of dollars.

He suggested a 2 percent local preference advantage for contracts from $250,000 to $1 million, then 3 percent for contracts between $1 million to $3 million, and so on.

Wright said dozens of local governments in Florida have a local preference purchasing policy and they all are different. He said there is no perfect system, but at some point, as the local-preference costs are set higher they will become too expensive.

Wright endorsed the idea of local preference purchasing to give local businesses a better chance to snag a portion of the more than $20 million in contracts for goods and services issued by Highlands County every year.

By Sept. 9, he said, he'll have recommendations on limits for the "upper end" contracts and on wording to define what is a local business.

"The critical point is defining what is a local company," Jackson said.

Wright advised getting the best possible policy within two weeks, adopting it, and then letting it operate for two years, at which time the county commission will review the results and decide whether to continue, amend or drop it.

John Drennan, a citizen who attends almost every commission meeting and usually comments on a variety of topics, said the policy should have safeguards against a contract going to a local company which then hires subcontractors. The subcontractors, he said, could then hire illegal aliens.

"Make sure these jobs (from construction projects awarded under local preference) go to citizens of the United States," Drennan said.

Jim Konkoly can be reached at 863-386-5855 or e-mail jkonkoly@highlandstoday.com

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