At the Tuesday Shreveport Council meeting, an agenda item was the award of the $1.9 million recycling contract.
The Request for Proposal (RFP) by the city had only one response that complied with its terms and conditions. Thus, it was forwarded to the mayor and then to the council for approval.
Many questions had been asked by the media about this potential vendor. Primarily, these focused on her financial ability to fulfill the contract and her lack of experience in managing a fleet of heavy-duty vehicles.
The city contract requires driving every street in the city -- from the northern point in the MLK area to the southern point in Southern Trace -- every two weeks looking for blue recycling bins to empty.
The applicant did not have any employees, any trucks, any garage/parking area for the vehicles or any experience. She did say three trucks were on order from Houston that could be delivered in October depending on availability of computer chip(s).
And unlike the former contractor who hauled the recycled goods to the Port, this vendor had to travel to Kilgore to a recycling facility. Thus, she will have more labor and truck operating expenses.
A suggestion was made that this vendor should probably get a business partner to help fulfill the contract, and she agreed in principle. This suggested change differed from the original RFC and, thus, necessitates the issuance of a new RFC that allows this opportunity.
A new RFC should directly address the issues of performance and finances. A performance bond should be required along with binders for liability insurance, workman's comp insurance and some requirement of minimum capital.
If these requirements had been in the original RFC, the council would not have been in Tuesday's predicament. And the arguments of not allowing an African-American female the opportunity to start a business would have been moot if these requirements had been included in the RFC.
