Bids Requested for North East Borough Street Resurfacing

Bids will be received by North East Borough at the Borough Office, 31 West Main Street, North East, PA 16428 until 1:00 p.m. prevailing time on July 1, 2015 for street resurfacing of two (2) Borough Streets which includes approximately 490 tons of 9.5 mm Superpave Wearing Course, approximately 250 tons of 9.5 mm Superpave Leveling Course, 5,900 square yards of milling and 2,800 SY of full depth pavement removal and replacement of subbase and 25.0 mm Base Course.

Contract Documents, including drawings and technical specifications, may be reviewed/obtained at the office of the engineer, Hill Engineering, Inc., 8 Gibson Street, North East, PA 16428 (Telephone: (814)725-8659; Fax: (814) 725-8637) for a non-refundable deposit of fifty dollars ($50). Addenda, if any, will be issued to only those persons whose name and address are on record as having obtained the Contract Documents.

The bid must be accompanied by a certified check or bid bond in the amount of 10% of the bid, made payable to the Borough of North East. Performance and Payment Bonds in the amount of 100% of the contract amount shall be furnished by the successful bidder. Prevailing wage will be applicable. The Borough reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and to waive any irregularities. Borough of North East, Will Rogers, Borough Manager

Editor’s note: In what seems to be standard practice with bids for many government agencies and municipalities, just getting a copy of the bid documents requires a payment, in this case $50, in many other cases $25. It seems logical many more bidders might participate if they could see a more detailed specification online. If the job looks like something they have the capability of doing, they could bid on the project. More bids, more competition, better prices, less cost to taxpayers, what’s not to like?

In the pre-internet days, this practice of charging for the bid specs may have made sense, with the time involved in printing, collating, binding and dealing with each potential bidder it kept everyone who wasn’t serious from taking up anyone’s time. Today, putting the specs online costs nothing, the bidders can read and print off the specs on their end and determine if they want to participate, all without bothering anyone. If someone comes in and wants a pre-printed set of documents, then a charge would still apply. The engineering firm preparing the specs is already paid by the municipality for the work they’ve done so a $50 charge just to see the documents seems pointless. This is a decades old, “We’ve always done it this way” procedure. It’s the 21st century, maybe we should update the process.

Everyone has the right to know what their government is doing.
Transparency is expected in all government meetings and daily operations.
Everyone working for the government works for, and is answerable to, you and me.
All laws, regulations, ordinances, budgets, audits and other public records should be freely available, preferably online, for citizens to examine without special fees and paperwork before they can do so.
When municipalities seek bids for contract work, all bid documents should be available online, free of charge. Printed copies, if requested, should be offered at cost.
Agendas should be posted online a minimum of 3 days before public meetings take place allowing interested citizens an opportunity to hear discussions and offer input on matters important to them.