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Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Ind. Gov't. - More on: Lake County printing contracts questioned

Updating this ILB entry from Sunday, John Byrne of the the Gary Post-Tribune reports today:

CROWN POINT — Lake County department heads will be required to certify all their 2006 contract requests are up to date, in order to prevent bidders from defrauding the county.

After learning bidders for 2006 county printing contracts responded to out-of-date bid forms, County Commissioners attorney John Dull on Monday sent a letter to county departments ordering them to verify their hundreds of bid requests.

“We want them to check every line item and send us a letter back that they checked and those quantities are what they expect to need in 2006,” Dull said. “We want these certifications back before the commissioners make any recommendations on 2006 contracts.” * * *

Lake County Purchasing Agent Brenda Koselke said she removes items from the bids if departments inform her they no longer need an item.

“I didn’t receive any notification about these reports,” Koselke said. “(The Sheriff’s Department) should tell me. They never told me.”

Lake County police Cmdr. Dennis Heaps said the department did send the commissioners notification three years ago that they were switching to computerized offense reports and no longer needed the paper products. * * *

With the sheriff’s forms removed, Haywood of Lafayette remains the low bidder on the 2006 Class 5 contracts, with a proposal of $48,664.

But Haywood’s recalculated bid is only $179 lower than the $48,843 bid by A-1 Union Graphics, Inc. of Hammond.

A-1 owner Eddie Shonk said with such a slight difference, his shop should get the nod because it keeps the work in Lake County.

“Why ship it out of here? We wouldn’t ship it to Illinois,” Shonk said.

But Commissioner Fran DuPey, D-Hammond, said the Board is obligated to accept the “best, lowest bid.”

“I would love to see the work stay in Lake County, but I don’t think that gives us the right to vote against the lowest bid,” DuPey said.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 6, 2005 07:44 AM
Posted to Indiana Government