Mike Naude,
council’s open spaces and places manager
WHAKATANE District Council has come under fire for shopping out of town to set up its new mowing and vegetation control unit.
The council opted earlier this year not to extend its current contract with Christchurch-based City Care and to instead provide its own mowing services.
In preparation for taking the service in-house in October, the council has employed more staff and spent $475,000 on equipment and vehicles – most of it with out of town suppliers.
This has frustrated the unsuccessful tenderers, including Peter Dench from Chainsaws & Mowers, who believes the council should support local businesses ahead of those from outside the district.
“I believe the council should be doing its absolute utmost to be supporting local business. Sometimes it is not possible but they should always try – and have a lot more communication with their local business people.
“I don’t care who won the tender – what mattered to me was that it stayed in town. As the ratepayers, we are not being supported by our council.”
Mr Dench’s tenders for two of the available contracts were rejected in favour of higher priced proposals from R & R Tractors in Te Puke.
R & R Tractors won the contract to provide tractors for $125,090. Chainsaws & Mowers’ tender was $105,000. It also won the contract for mowers for $141,439 over Chainsaws & Mowers’ tender of $122,356.
Places and open spaces manager Mike Naude said the council had approved a budget of $730,000 to establish the unit, including $338,000 for plant, machinery and trailers and $260,000 for vehicles.
They bought two Toyota Hilux utilities and three Isuzu tip-trucks for $208,554, along with four Kubota mowers and four Wilco transport trailers for $266,529, representing a saving of $71,000 on the total budgeted cost.
“Whakatane District Council strongly supports the ‘buy local’ concept, but with the absolute proviso that the price and non-price details of any contract must offer the best value for ratepayers,” Mr Naude said.
“If a local company was favoured over an external supplier that submitted a better overall offer, we would be in breach of the requirements of the Local Government Act, but more importantly, we would also be in breach of our duties to district ratepayers.”
In any tender process, price was only one component considered in the tender evaluation process.
Mr Naude said three conforming tenders were received including one from a local supplier but that tender provided the required information for only one of the two tractor specifications requested.
“The tender assessment panel decided that the more powerful of the two options specified (90-100 horsepower) would best meet our needs and as the local supplier had not submitted a price for that option, its offer was not accepted.”
The council purchased all vehicles through an All of Government (AOG) collaborative contract arrangement administered by the ministry of business, innovation and employment, which meant all buying arrangements were made directly with the manufacturer’s New Zealand representative, rather than with local suppliers, Mr Naude said.
“Where there is a local supplier, the purchased vehicles are sourced and fitted out locally.”
The Toyota vehicles were able to be purchased locally, he said.
Audit confirms process validity
IN light of concerns raised by unsuccessful tenderers about the council not supporting local suppliers, and the potential for the mowing and vegetation control tender process to become an election issue, Whakatane District Council commissioned an independent audit of the procurement process.
Public affairs manager Ross Boreham said the report, received this week, confirmed the validity of the various contracts awards.
Unsuccessful tenderers raised various concerns, including the lack of weighting to buy local and predetermined brand specifications, which were reviewed by Tauranga-based financial management and policy consultancy PJ & Associates.
Principal Philip Jones indicated that while some aspects of the tender process could be improved, the review had not raised any matters that would invalidate it.
Specifically, it noted:
- The council had complied with its policy on local economic impact but there was further opportunity to consider the benefits of buying locally as part of the maintenance contract;
- While there may have been a perception there was a predetermined brand the council wished to acquire, there was no evidence to support this perception;
- A late and incomplete tender had correctly been excluded; and
- The use of the Government Electronic Tenders Service to seek tender submissions had not disadvantaged local suppliers.
Mr Jones made a number of recommendations around clarifying the consideration of local economic impacts, the treatment of non-conforming tenders, communications during the tender process and tender advertising avenues.
Council chief executive Marty Grenfell has welcomed the report and says staff involved in the procurement process will act upon its recommendations.