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Highlands Today

County Adopts 'Local Preference' Policy

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By JIM KONKOLY

Highlands Today

Published: September 25, 2008

SEBRING - Local businesses will have a better chance of getting Highlands County government contracts under the new "local preference" policy adopted Tuesday by the county commissioners.
Highlands County companies will win competitively bid contracts if their price is slightly higher than the lowest out-of-county bidder.

About half of Florida's counties have similar policies to help local firms win their county's business, and more are considering the idea, according to Jed Secory, the county's purchasing director.

In an average year, the county commissioners award about $20 million in business to companies, and sometimes more, according to Secory.

The five commissioners adopted a revised policy that had two major changes from the original local-preference policy presented three weeks ago, which drew questions from the commissioners and the local builders association.

The biggest change was going to a four-tiered, graduated system of giving local businesses an advantage.

Local firms will get the contract if they are up to 5 percent higher than the best out-of-county bidder for contracts up to $250,000. From there, the local firm's advantage will be four percent for contracts between $250,000 and $1 million, 3 percent for contracts from $1 million to $2 million, and 2 percent for projects above $2 million.

The bidding advantage on projects over $2 million will have a maximum of $80,000 allowed in exceeding an out-of-county company's price.

Originally, the proposal was for a two-tiered system, with the 5 percent local advantage for contracts up to $250,000 and a 2 percent advantage for all contracts above $250,000.

The second change was increasing the time a business must be operating in Highlands County to get the local preference from six months to 12 months.

Mike Secor, president of the Highlands County Builders Association, praised the new policy after he had questioned the original proposal.

"I think it's a good compromise," Secor said. "I think they did a good job."

The builders association represents about 140 companies, Secor said. He said members have hope that the local preference advantage will help them get work, particularly on the $11.1 million sheriff's law enforcement building, expected to be under construction in January.
Secor said he's heard "concerns" that the sheriff's project is so big that local subcontractors could not handle the work on it.

"That's not true," he said. "We do have subcontractors who can handle that."

Secory was asked if the local preference policy will require the general contractor on the sheriff's project to hire local subcontractors. The policy won't do that, he answered, but requirements to hire local subcontractors can be specified in the bids and the county contracts that are awarded.

Secory told commissioners he'll track how the local preference policy is working and report to them regularly, probably in his quarterly reports.

Commissioner Barbara Stewart said she's heard talk that in some counties with local-preference rules, out-of-county firms are discouraged from bidding by the local preference, and so there could be less competition.

Stewart said she doesn't know if that is true or just a rumor or hearsay, and so she wants that issue tracked as the local-preference policy is used here.

With or without a local preference policy, Secory said, "when we don't have the competition, that's when you start running into problems" on getting a good price.

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

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