A number of councillors this week expressed their concern that a number of local plant hire companies would be forced out of business by the procurement procedure being used by Mayo County Council this week. At the September meeting of the local authority procurement officer John Maughan gave the members a presentation on the work being done by his office in saving money for the council.
However Fine Gael councillor Cyril Burke told the meeting: “I’d like to raise the issue of local plant hire companies who have had to cut their cloth to measure to meet the criteria for these procurement procedures. I know a lot of companies have had to cut their costs dramatically and they are going to find making a living very hard. They need to get the work from the council because the bottom has fallen out of the building market, and they are trying to maintain giving employment to people and keeping their business going.”
Head of finance for the council, Peter Duggan, assured the members that price was not the only reason tenders were awarded, and that a number of other criteria were considered, including past experience in dealing with the supplier and the quality of the product. Maughan also said that when equipment was needed on short notice or for small jobs that these jobs did not have to go through the tendering process like other, bigger, jobs. However he did point out that a new system was being moved to for the new year for major jobs where all suppliers will be judged on a tender basis rather than the quotation basis in the past. He told the meeting all suppliers who wanted to be considered had to have their tenders sent in to the council very soon. All tenders for plant and haulage must be received by October 7, for road making materials, concrete and water treatment chemicals the deadline is September 30, and if they have not been received by then they will not be involved in any of the tendering competitions in the future. Maughan said that any of the suppliers who had questions in relation to these deadlines should contact his office as soon as possible to make sure that they get their paperwork submitted to be included.
