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Sunday, December 30, 2007
Ind. Gov't. - Still more on: Lake County printing contracts questioned
Updating this ILB entry from Feb. 27, 2006, John Byrne of the Gary Post-Tribune reports that problems continue with bidding printing contracts in Lake County. Some quotes:
CROWN POINT -- Lake County officials are investigating whether two bidders for government printing contracts illegally joined forces in an effort to freeze out a third company vying for the work.County Prosecutor Bernard Carter said Thursday he had been notified of allegations that Hammond printing companies A-1 Union Graphics and Sheffield Press Printers & Lithographers had colluded in their bids for 2007 contracts.
"Right now the information we have is incomplete," Carter said. "The situation definitely deserves further investigation. We have been in contact with the Attorney General's Office to determine which agency will proceed with that investigation."
Officials from A-1 and Sheffield could face civil or criminal charges if it is determined they violated Lake County's non-collusion agreement, Carter said.
Between them, Sheffield and A-1 won three classes of printing contracts in 2007, deals worth a total of $140,795.
In each case, they underbid Haywood Graphics of Lafayette.
This fall, Haywood officials presented the county copies of the bid packets submitted by A-1 and Sheffield last year.
It appears the same person filled out each bid, according to county attorney John Dull.
"If the same person filled out the Form 5 for A1 Union Graphics and for Sheffield, then there was collusion," Dull wrote in a letter to company officials.
The A-1 and Sheffield bids were also notarized on the same date, by the same Illinois notary. * * *
The printing bids have been contentious in recent years.
In late 2005, Shonk complained the county's bid proposals were obsolete, asking bidders to estimate costs to print forms the county had not used in years.
Shonk argued the out-of-date proposals gave Haywood, which had won the printing contracts several years running, an unfair advantage, because Haywood officials could submit artificially low estimates for products they knew they would never be asked to produce.
County purchasing officials undertook an audit of all bid forms, and A-1 became much more competitive in winning printing contracts thereafter.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 30, 2007 09:13 AM
Posted to Indiana Government