Jefferson Parish Council members would have to consider price in some contractor rankings and select companies ranked at or near the top in technical evaluations, under an ordinance filed by Councilman Chris Roberts
Jefferson Parish Council members would have to consider price in some contractor rankings and select companies ranked at or near the top in technical evaluations, under an ordinance filed by Councilman Chris Roberts. The measure has been in the works for months, as civic groups and local think-tanks have called for reducing the politicians' discretion in awarding public work.
But their wait is likely to last a bit longer. Several council members Monday said a vote on Roberts' ordinance, expected at Wednesday's meeting, will be postponed so members can iron out a few remaining concerns on the bill.
"It's going to be deferred and the ordinance will be amended," Roberts said, but he said his intent is to bring it to a vote at the council's next meeting, March 13.
The chief sticking point appears to be Roberts' proposal to remove department directors from committees that evaluate contractors' offers. Directors are political appointees of the parish president, and Roberts has said that could give the president undue influence over the contracting process. His proposed ordinance would require that all scoring members of the evaluation committees be classified employees, who don't serve at the pleasure of the president and are protected by civil service rules. Roberts has said that would put the ranking in the hands of assistant directors, who are career employees.
But Parish President John Young said earlier this month not all departments have assistant directors, and that adopting Roberts' proposal could place lower-level employees in charge of making important contracting choices. Councilman Paul Johnston on Monday said he also has concerns about the proposal to change the evaluation committees, saying some parish directors have decades of expertise that could be lost.
Roberts said there will be changes to that section of the ordinance to address those concerns, specifically cases in which there are not assistant directors.
"But the key is to ensure the independency of the evaluations," Roberts added.
Johnston said he'll wait to see the final language before deciding whether to support that part of the ordinance. "I'm going to let Chris work on that; he may come up with something I can live with," Johnston said.
Roberts' ordinance would change how the parish awards work through requests for proposals, which are used to contract for "non-standard" services of $15,000 or more. Unlike contracts for construction or equipment, the council is not required to give RFP work to the lowest bidder. Instead, the council can select any firm deemed responsive and can ignore the rankings from the evaluation committees.
The ordinance Roberts is proposing would change that by:
• Requiring that price be part of the criteria used to score offers from vendors, with price accounting for 20 percent of a firm's score. Young proposed making price part of the evaluation criteria and some council members had suggested making it 25 percent of a firm's score.
• Mandating that the Parish Council award some professional contracts to a firm ranked among the top three when seven or fewer companies are seeking the job. If eight or more firms submit offers, the council would be able to select from among the top five. Roberts said Monday that his ordinance is likely to be amended to limit the selection to the top three firms regardless of how many sought the job. The only exemption, he said, would be when a task is so large that four or more companies are needed. Young and civic advocates for contracting reform have called for a mandate that the council selects the top firm only.
• Requiring vendors seeking work through RFPs to file affidavits listing all subcontractors, all campaign contributions to council members and the parish president in the prior two years, and the names of elected parish officials who solicited a campaign contribution by phone or "personal contact" in the same period. Professional firms seeking work in non-RFP processes already have to make those disclosures.
The ordinance would impose penalties on members of technical committees who give a firm a score outside the range set for a specific category - as in a firm receiving a score of 30 in experience if the maximum allowed score is 20. Officials said the problem is not widespread, but that there have been a few cases where scores were outside the range. The proposed ordinance would void that person's entire score, and place them on a 90-day probation period. A second violation would get the person barred from any evaluation committees. In addition, if a score is less than half the technical points that may be awarded, the evaluator would have to provide written justification.
Councilwoman Cynthia Lee-Sheng said the council is aiming to make sure the technical evaluations are a fair reflection of the company's proposals, especially if the council will be restricted to choosing among the top three scorers.
"Many companies put in a lot of effort in making these proposals. We really need to make sure they are graded fairy and accurately," Lee-Sheng said.