RFQ Competitive Procurement

Started by MichaelB32 • 8 replies • 999 views

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MichaelB32 (California)
Posts: 141

Posted:

Our HOA is going to fund a major project for say $350,000 to repave the streets and parking spaces. We should get more bidders than just the vendors that the property management company recommends. When I was young and in college, I work at a City and they had some process for RFQ's (Request for Quote) that was published in news flyer to a large audience. Have any of you ever used such process and how does it work? Our Associate is 180 members.

Michael Barto
[email protected]

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

RFQ or RFP (request for proposal) are about the same.

If you know the square yards, you can likely email many companies and simply ask (replacing the formal RFQ/RFP).

I will say that often the MC or similar company can get a better cost because of potential repeat business.
If the company deals with the Association, you may call them back in 20 years.
If the company deals with the MC, they may get a call back for another job in a year or two.

However, I agree you should get as many bids as you desire.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

For lots of valuable info on bids & proposals, visit davis-stirling.com, the site put together by a CA HOA law firm. Go to the Main Index and then Contracts. You'll see excellent check lists, sample RFPs (as I recall), etc.

We've have some big contracts for work at our HOA and, honestly, the PM and her MC do have good contacts with all sorts of vendors and also with other PMs for referrals.

GuyS (Arizona)
Posts: 19

Posted:

We did more than $200K of street work last year and issued a RFP early in the year. You can send the RFP to as many vendors as you like. It's best, though, just to send to vendors you would be willing to sign a contract with and not waste time with others. Based on past experience, consultant advice, and advice from other HOAs, we ended up with only a handful of companies that we wanted bids from. Our project was too small for some of the largest paving companies, who didn't respond to the RFP, and too large for some smaller companies. Subtract a company or two that we didn't feel comfortable with, we hoped for five bids but got only two. That was partly our fault in our timing. The bid we accepted was from one of our top two choices and had done good work for us before. One of the companies we had wanted a bid from didn't have time for last year's project but has given us an attractive bid for this year's paving project.

FredS7 (Arizona)
Posts: 927

Posted:

If your RFQ looks like it is a mass mailing, prospective bidders may think the chances of success are small. They may not bid or they may bid high so they don't have to put careful thought into something will small chance of success.

You would be better off identifying a few suppliers likely to be interested. But then your management company has already done that.

BenA2 (Texas)
Posts: 1,273

Posted:

If your management company (MC) is doing their job then I disagree that you should get more bids. Is the MC recommending these vendors for good reasons, based on the bids they received, or did they just randomly pick companies?

If the MC is not following good business practices in soliciting RFQs, then you should get a new MC. I would not recommend getting additional bids if the MC went through the process and bidding is closed. That wouldn't be fair to the companies who met the deadline and could result in a lawsuit.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

Ben,

I am thinking that their is some mistrust between the OP and the MC or the OP is new and simply wants to verify if the prices the MC is getting are the best available. It's always good to trust but verify.

BenA2 (Texas)
Posts: 1,273

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By TimB4 on 02/16/2018 3:45 AM
Ben,

I am thinking that their is some mistrust between the OP and the MC or the OP is new and simply wants to verify if the prices the MC is getting are the best available. It's always good to trust but verify.

I agree and, where there is any question, there is nothing wrong with verifying proper procedures were followed. I just think it is a bad idea for the board to go looking for more bids if the MC followed proper procedure. As mentioned above, it can have legal consequences.

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