Date:

January 3, 2005

For More Information Contact:

Diane Gonzolas, Citizen Information Center, 441-7831

Don Herz, Finance Director, 441-7411

Mayor Coleen J. Seng today announced that the rebid of the pumper fire truck bid was completed on schedule and that the Lincoln-based EDM Corporation has submitted the low bid. EDM will be awarded the contract to provide up to seven fire trucks to the City of Lincoln.

“I am pleased that the rebid was completed in an expedient manner and am even more pleased that the rebid has resulted in a lower cost per truck than the original bids,” said Mayor Seng. The cost per fire pumper truck will be $284,599 under the EDM bid. This is about $6,000 lower per truck than the previous bids.

The pumper fire trucks have been needed for more than a year. The pumper fire trucks being replaced are from 10 to 20 years old. The last time the City purchased a fire truck was in 2001.

Last November, Mayor Seng directed that the original fire truck request for proposals be rebid following a series of appeals by the fire truck vendors. The original pumper fire truck bid specifications were to be reviewed to eliminate multiple City contacts which caused the confusion and facilitated the lack of communication. Also, the specifications were to be as generic as possible by limiting references to brands and other descriptions which may appear to be proprietary or restrictive.

City Finance Director Don Herz oversaw the rebid. To eliminate confusion and the chance of miscommunication, Herz limited all vendor contact to either to himself or the purchasing agent assigned to conduct the rebid.

The official contract with EDM Corporation of Lincoln will be finalized this month. The City can anticipate that it could receive the first new truck in the second half of 2005.

In conjunction with announcing the rebid of the fire trucks last November Mayor Seng also directed the City Law and Finance Departments to design a better appeals process. The current appeals process was created in 1993. The City Law Department had identified a number of deficiencies in the current appeal process that contributed to the number of appeals.

“The Law Department has finished its recommended changes to the appeals process to make it more clear and definitive,” Mayor Seng said. These improvements to the appeals process include clarifying when an appeal may be filed, how many appeals a vendor may submit, whether an appeal decision may be re-appealed and when the appeal period ends.

Mayor Seng said she has directed the Law Department to submit the legislation to the Lincoln City Council for consideration this month. The ordinance change is expected to be introduced for City Council consideration starting next week with a public hearing on the changes to be scheduled later this month.