Signed Contract_Well Field Electrical Upgrades_IIW Engineers9/6/2011 3:58 PM FROM: ALLTRANS TO: 15635890890 PAGE: 001 OF 004
1930 St Andrews CC NE
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ALLTRANS, INC.
Honorable City Council
City of Dubuque, Iowa
Ph. (319) 393 -8726
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I am writing to describe a recent experience our firm has had with the City of Dubuque,
in the hope that it will be possible to resolve our current dissatisfaction. In particular, I
request that Item # 33 be removed from the "Consent Items" on the agenda for the City
Council Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, September 6, 2011.
Background:
The City of Dubuque sent out a Request for Proposals and bid for Well Field Electrical
Upgrades. The company I represent, ALLTRANS, INC. and another company,
Innovative Engineers, Inc. prepared a joint bid which was timely submitted to Jacqueline
Rodriguez with the City of Dubuque (see attached copies)
Ms. Rodriguez contacted me by phone shortly after the deadline for submittals had
passed and informed me that the joint bid of ALLTRANS, INC. /Innovative Engineers,
Inc. was the lowest bid, and that we had thus been successful and would be awarded
the contract.
Concerns:
After several days, during which we anticipated that the City was preparing the contract
documents for us to sign, Ms. Rodriguez left me a voice -mail stating that a decision had
been made to award the project to a different company. She gave no reason for this
change.
I tried to call Ms. Rodriguez back to discuss her message, but she did not answer my
calls. I called Bob Green Water Department Director, and tried to discuss this matter
with him, however he was very rude, uncooperative, and used inappropriate derogatory
terms with me, and hung up the phone. At that point, around August 19, 2011, I called
the City Manager. Initially, he sounded sympathetic to what had taken place, and I
thought that the situation would be rectified.
Indeed, within a couple of hours, I received a phone call from Bob Green, in which he
apologized for his unprofessional conduct when we had last spoken. However, Mr.
Green refused to discuss the reasons why the contract had been taken from our
companies and awarded to a different company with a higher bid. To date, I have
asked Ms. Rodriguez, Mr. Green and the City Manager for a valid explanation as to why
this project was taken from our companies, as lowest bidders, and to -date, no reason
has been given.
WWW.ALLTRANSINC.COM ALLTRANS, INC.
33
9/6/2011 3:58 PM FROM: ALLTRANS TO: 15635890890 PAGE: 002 OF 004
1930 St Andrews CI NE Ph. (319) 393 -8726
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402 Fax (319)- 393 -6858
ALLTRANS, INC.
The Proposal submitted by ALLTRANS, INC and Innovative Engineers, Inc. shows that
our team is well - qualified to perform the scope of this project. ALLTRANS, INC. has
previously worked as a sub - consultant to Schneider Surveying & Planning, Inc.on the
Miller Road Water Main Extension project for the City of Dubuque, which was a great
success. Our company was able to complete the work, while achieving significant
savings for the City. We assumed a firm leadership role for the City Water Department,
and did not allow the contractor to manipulate the numbers or the bid quantities.
In one case of the roadway full depth patches, the City decided to patch a larger
quantity than initially anticipated. The contractor intended to charge the City a higher
unit price for the larger overlay quantity. We measured the exact quantity of the
overlay, contacted the asphalt sub - contractor, and renegotiated a new lower unit price
for the overlay. This process cause some delay of payment to the contractor, but not to
the construction of the project. We did stand very firm against the contractor's efforts to
get paid for more than what was agreed on. We are proud of our efforts to save the City
money, and we did not bill the City a single dime for the extra work. Our project
Manager, Brant Schueller always commended us on our efforts to protect the City from
unnecessary extras.
We were optimistic that the Miller Road project was the beginning of a positive
professional relationship between our firm and the City of Dubuque.
It is thus disappointing to see the City Management now taking steps which appear
arbitrary and unsupported by facts. As the lowest bidder, the ALLTRANS /IEI team
should have been awarded this contract. The failure of City officials to provide any
explanation for their decision to award the Well Field Electrical Upgrades contract to a
far more expensive bidder raises concerns that there is no legitimate explanation for this
decision. Individual City officials should not — and do not — have unfettered discretion to
make decisions on behalf of the City that are not in the best interests of the City, and
that cannot be justified by objective reasons or the City's own policies.
We do understand that State of Iowa law allows Cities to choose any consultant for their
engineering contracts, however, we are convinced that this solicitation was clearly a bid
document, which means lowest bidder gets the job, which was made very clear by the
project manager, Jacqueline Rodriguez.
Request:
I respectfully ask that the City investigate the circumstances surrounding the award of
the Well Field Electrical Upgrades contract and why this contract was not awarded to
the lowest bidder — the joint bid of ALLTRANS, INC. and Innovative Engineers, Inc. I
ask that the decision to award the contract to a company whose bid exceeded our joint
bid by more than 30% be reversed, and that the City of Dubuque award the contract to
WWW.ALLTRANSINC.COM ALLTRANS, INC.
9/6/2011 3:58 PM FROM: ALLTRANS TO: 15635890890 PAGE: 003 OF 004
1930 St Andrews Ct NE Ph. (319) 393 -8726
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402 Fax (319)- 393 -6858
ALLTRANS, INC.
our team, which is professionally qualified to perform the scope of the project and which
submitted the lowest bid.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated attention to this serious matter.
Regards,
Sincerely,
411-04--
Ghassan M. Halloush, P.E.
ALLTRANS, INC.
6-/— 21e(
WWW.ALLTRANSINC.COM ALLTRANS, INC.
9/6/2011 3:58 PM FROM: ALLTRANS TO: 15635890890 PAGE: 004 OF 004
1930 St Andrews Ct NE Ph. (319) 393 -8726
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402 Fax (319)- 393 -6858
ALLTRANS, INC.
WWW.ALLTRANSINC.COM ALLTRANS, INC.