The latest hot potato for the Dallas County Commissioners’ Court relates to the bidding process for County contracts.

The County Commissioners award contracts to outside vendors who go through a competitive bidding process and receive the highest score on a grading scale. The scoring system is based upon judging which bidder offers the best and most reliable service at the lowest cost.

Dallas County Purchasing Agent Shannon Brown officially chooses the winning bidder. Afterwards, she calls for the County Commissioners to approve an RFP (Request for Proposal) in favor of the chosen company. But, it seems as though on a regular basis that one or more of the Commissioners find flaws with her decision, especially when millions of dollars are at stake in contracts.

That occurred at the Tuesday’s Commissioners’ meeting. Ms. Brown approved an order to render Pi Systems as the firm awarded a contract to provide voice and data cabling services for Dallas County. She requested that Pi Systems enter into formal negotiations to finalize the contract with the County.

As has become a pattern lately, companies which were unsuccessful in their bids sent representatives to complain about the bidding process and to get the Commissioners to reverse Ms. Brown’s decision.

A Clay Communications representative claimed that Ms Brown told his company that it was not obligated to file paperwork showing a list of minority sub-contractors that would be hired since Clay Communications is already a minority-owned company. Accordingly, points were deducted from their score, even though the company followed Ms. Brown’s advice.

An Extratech representative accused Ms. Brown of making an inappropriate decision since his company was the lowest bidder. Commissioner Maurine Dickey of District 1 explained to Jacob Cervantes of Extratech that his company had lost the bid because it failed to obtain a performance bond. Mr. Cervantes responded by promising to get a performance bond if Extratech were awarded the contract.

That argument swayed the County Commissioners who unanimously agreed to award the contract to Extratech. The vote occurred so suddenly that a Pi Systems representative present at the meeting appeared completely taken by surprise.

After the vote Mrs. Dickey expressed concern about flaws in the bidding process at the Purchasing Department. She also requested that the County enact more thorough auditing procedures to guard against potential conflicts of interest.

This purchasing department is responsible for paying out millions of dollars in contract money every year. Mrs. Dickey suggested that it use the “Best Business Practices” method of auditing to better analyze the risk assessments of contracts and to improve the bidding process.

The Dallas County Commissioner’s Court will hold its next public hearing on Tuesday. November 27.

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