Former/retired Sioux Falls Government Attorney offers advice on RFPs

Always handy to have around when the mayor is in town.

Here is the email that was sent out;

What happens if the Council does not approve the LMC contract? I thought I would share this information with you.

5.07  Special Conditions
This RFP does not commit the City to procure or award a contract for the scope of work described herein. The City has sole discretion and reserves the right to reject any and all proposals received with respect to this RFP and to cancel the RFP at any time prior to entering into a formal agreement. The City also reserves the right to reasonably request additional information or clarification of information provided in the proposal without changing the terms of the RFP.

There is also this section; however it should not apply as there was an agreement reached, just not approved.

Section 4—Review of Proposals and Evaluation Criteria
4.01 Selection Criteria:  Upon review of the proposals, the City will score the proposals and may shortlist and interview the highest ranking Proposers. Upon completion of the interviews, the highest ranking Proposer will then be asked to enter into contract negotiations with the City. If an agreement cannot be reached with the highest ranked Proposer, the City will move to the next highest ranked Proposer. The same process will be repeated with the other ranked Proposers if no such agreement can be reached. The City reserves the right to not select a Proposer as part of this process if an agreement cannot be reached with the interviewed Proposers.

Finally, the state law governing procurements says: 5-18A-12.   Cancellation of invitation for bids or request for proposals and rejection of bids or proposals. An invitation for bids, a request for proposals, or other solicitation may be canceled, or any or all bids or proposals may be rejected in whole or in part as may be specified in the solicitation, if the purchasing agency determines it is in the best interests of the agency. The reasons for the cancellation or rejection shall be made part of the contract file.

Seems the city attorney’s office is struggling since Fiddle took his Faddle and jumped ship. What I found interesting in the meeting last night was when private counsel came up to answer the same questions asked of city attorney Ms. Leonard, he answered with quick and simple ‘NO’ answers and was very confident in his responses.

If you think last night’s meeting was interesting, I have a feeling next Tuesday will be the real fireworks. MMM was on the B-N-B show this morning, and you could tell he was NOT pleased this was deferred and lied for about the entire 45 minutes about public input, RFP secrecy and our pitiful signed parking ramp agreement with Mr. Hultgren. I wonder if Belfrage has a skid steer on standby whenever the Mayor comes to visit the studio?