Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/109601
Sarasota News Leader February 15, 2013 Procurement Official Ted Coyman told the commissioners their decisions would be incorporated into the revised Procurement Code, which he hopes to bring back to them for review on Feb. 26. Page 42 rate records filed with the Florida Secretary of State���s Division of Corporations, or Sunbiz, to determine where a firm���s home office is located. Coyman also noted that it is up to businesses The goal is to hold a public hearing on the applying for local preference to provide afficode on March 16, he added, with the board davits to show they comply with the criteria. adopting it afterward. ���[They are] basically swearing that these are ���We���re trying to move this thing right along,��� the facts,��� he added. ���If we felt the affidavit was suspect, we would ask for additional docCoyman said. uments.��� The revision of the code was one of the recommendations of the National Institute of ��� For bids, a local firm that is within 10 percent of a non-local firm in the bid price ���is Government Purchasing Inc. after unethical afforded an opportunity to ���match��� the lowpractices were discovered in the Procurement est bid price.��� Department in the spring of 2011. Although the board voted tentatively on sev- ��� For Requests for Proposals, local vendors that qualify will receive 10 percent of the en local preference guidelines in November, total available proposal points. it asked Coyman and his staff to make extra efforts to learn vendors��� views of those stip���THE UGLY ONES��� ulations. Among the other qualifications receiving unan- Then came the discussions regarding the numimous support on Feb. 13 were the following: ber and type of employees for the residency qualification and the use of subcontractors. ��� A company must have one year of residency in one of the three designated counties to ���These last two are the ugly ones,��� Commissioner Christine Robinson said. qualify for local preference. Patterson noted that 69 percent of the com- ���I don���t know how you can get this right,��� Patpanies the Procurement Department staff terson added. had surveyed supported that provision. The current rule requiring that one full-time ��� A firm���s business tax receipt will be the pri- employee or one corporate officer reside in mary means of validation for its qualifica- one of the three counties for a firm to receive local preference status, she noted, was an tion for local preference. easy one to abuse. Coyman pointed out, ���The challenge is that Manatee County does not have that exact tax ���I���ve watched a lot of money get siphoned out document.��� Therefore, he said, staff had to of here by [a firm���s] having one employee situse another source, such as a firm���s corpo- ting in the county,��� Barbetta said.