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Editorial: City Council action on bidders only adds burden
Spokane taxpayers can relax now that their City Council has approved a public-works safeguard against a costly recurrence of … ?
Of what? Good question.
By a 5-2 vote, the council passed a responsible-bidder ordinance on Monday, even though no examples were offered to illustrate the bad consequences that befall a city without one. Critics rightfully called it a solution without a problem.
The idea is that the low bidder on a public-works contract would have to fill out a questionnaire about past performance. If the answers revealed problems, the city could turn to the next highest bidder – who would then have to answer the questions. And so forth.
There’s nothing wrong with being proactive and weeding out shoddy contractors, but state law already imposes ample requirements for businesses that contract for public projects. The state’s demands – arguably overprescriptive as it is – coupled with properly written bid specifications by local officials, should suffice to avoid problems.
If not, wouldn’t there have been a pattern of deficient contractors slipping through the cracks? Wouldn’t those difficulties have been recounted during Monday’s lengthy council consideration?
The responsible-bidder ordinance heads next to Mayor Mary Verner, who is said to be favorable to it. If she was sincere in her recent comments about the city’s concerns for the business community, however, she will think twice about signing the measure that burdens contractors with unnecessary red tape.
The six-page form features a list of mostly yes-or-no questions (parts A through O) and, depending on the answers, requires compilation of potentially substantial documentation. Just what a business needs as it struggles to survive in a difficult economy, more paperwork.
Unemployment in the construction industry is two to three times that in the rest of the economy, so it could be argued that contractors are so desperate they’ll have to accept the added demand. In time, though, the private-sector building will resume, bidder interest in public jobs will return to traditionally lower levels and the competitiveness that drives low bids will decline.
Burdening contractors with paperwork requirements that duplicate existing controls is not a sign of hospitality toward business and job creation.