Holiday Lighting Contracts Made the Front Page

Way to go DJ. I'm sure you'll land more work from people reading the article. We're adding Holiday Lighting to our list of services this year. We are getting a late start with the advertising, but I hope to pick up
several customers in the next few weeks.
 
That's pretty cool, DJ.
 
Problem is, all you have to do is ask what they are paying, and they are required by federal law to give it to you.
 
Scott Stone said:
Problem is, all you have to do is ask what they are paying, and they are required by federal law to give it to you.
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When my cleaning service gets RFP for city buildings, they actually have the current price that they are being cleaned for right in the documents. Don't even have to ask. I am amazed sometimes at the prices.
 
Scott Stone said:
Problem is, all you have to do is ask what they are paying, and they are required by federal law to give it to you.
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Really....... I didn't realize that. Does this apply to ANY commercial RFP's or just those tied into grant money and government type projects?

Granted I'm 99% residential so I don't see much of this but the commerical jobs we have bid on didn't openly offer up the prior bids.
 
Great with comments from the Director of the library like "We have recieved excellent customer service from them" to "We will renew the contract once it's up"

I'm not worried about it. I have taken apart in the community on the DT revitalization board and also sit on the BOD for the chamber and rotary. WE are becoming WELL known in the community and not just for the work we do but for the PROFESSIONALISM and CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!! Treat people welll enough and they have no reason to leave no matter the price! :)
 
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Greg Rentschler said:
Really....... I didn't realize that. Does this apply to ANY commercial RFP's or just those tied into grant money and government type projects?

Granted I'm 99% residential so I don't see much of this but the commerical jobs we have bid on didn't openly offer up the prior bids.
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Just government contracts. Commercial companies do not have to abide by the "Freedom of Information" Act.
 
When my cleaning service gets RFP for city buildings, they actually have the current price that they are being cleaned for right in the documents. Don't even have to ask. I am amazed sometimes at the prices.
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Mike and Scott, do they (govt) always go with the lowest bidder all things being equal?
 
Wesley Teston said:
Mike and Scott, do they (govt) always go with the lowest bidder all things being equal?
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I have never seen here that the lowest Qualifying bid didn't get it. The keyword being "Qualifying." Quite often, outside influences help gov agency write the RFP and in doing so, makes it hard to Qualify. Or the wording is very grey. Clean, as we know, means different things to different folks. So, a company can convince gov agency that a rinse down is reasonably clean but the RFP doesn't detail this. So you bid thinking you will fully surface clean and insider bids knowing that the rinse down will be acceptable and comes in at 1/10th of your price. Or vica versa... The RFP is so detailed down to the exact method, chem used etc... that only the insider that helped write RFP is only one qualified.

The cleaning of offices we see here are ridiculous in thier requirements of the bidder that only certain companies can even qualify. Lots of paperwork trying to show WHY you don't have a certain percentage of a certian ethnic group employed etc. We see nightly cleaning (5 nights/week) accounts with 3000 sqft carpet and 2000 sqft VCT floor, spec'd to be spray buffed 3 nights/week being done for $480/month. Insane how a company can send an employee or two to a location, unload vaccuums, buffers and mop buckets to do a $24 job. We went on some walkthroughs where we were all told that these gigs weren't very profitable but were good for having a city/county reference. LOL Reference from a cheapa$$ won't pay the payroll. The folks that get these don't keep them long and hire the cheapest labor they can find.

So an answer is this some can get the bid accepted and not be lowest and some find ways to be lowest but end up being the only qualified bidder.
 
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