Saturday, March 12, 2005

Are we chasing quality contractors away?

Credit to the Chronicle for at least reporting this but isn't it about time that they engage in a tiny bit of investigative journalism to find out the real reason we, the taxpayers, are paying more for this project than has been bid? And, given that the "word" is out on bidding Muskegon jobs, are fewer contractors going to bid in the future? Isn't this just the same as those practices that have destroyed such cities as Detroit?

Commissioners clash over construction bids: "Low bidder Brian Schultz warned the commission that if it made a practice of rejecting the lowest bid in favor of contractors in the Muskegon area, it would find that fewer contractors would go to the trouble and expense of preparing bids, competition would suffer and costs would go up.
'It really degrades the bidding process,' Schultz said. "

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