Wentzville Making Progress in 'Tightening Up' Bid Process

Last week, at the direction of Mayor Nick Guccione, Wentzville's procurement director gave a presentation to city staff and the public about changes to the city's bid process.

Jerry Hillin, the city's director of procurement, said that a recent audit of past procurement procedures showed that one out of four people serving a position of city leadership (from staff directors to to elected officials) did not comply with procurement regulations on a routine basis.

"They were not good stewards of the city’s money," Hillin said. "Then the board of aldermen stepped in and enforced compliancy."

Some of the problems Hillin identified were: 

• Information about bid specifications being released before the soliciation was made public
• Information about staff recommendations being shared with bidders before the the bid was approved by the city administration or board of aldermen
• A form of "bid shopping," soliciting bids, then telling a favored vendor the amount of the lowest bid and asking if they can beat it. "All you have to do is look at the dates on the bids," Hillin said. "You'd see a two-week difference . . . before the last bid."
• Communication between bid evaluators and bidders that was not disclosed to all the bidders.
• "Split ordering," or breaking a contract or change order into smaller amounts so that it doesn't hit the $25,000 mark and have to go to the board of aldermen for approval.

Hillin said that he'd seen a significant amount of progress in the city's adherence to procurement procedures in the last year or so, crediting a new ethics policy adopted by the city last year.

Some parts of the process still need work, including a point system used by evaluators. Points are given for certain considerations, such as if the company is local or uses local subcontractors. 

Hillin said that he still sees bids being awarded to the low bidder, even when that bidder doesn't have the most points.

"We don't always practice what we preach," Hillin said.