Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
"The 25 top-ranked states for overall procurement performance include:
1. Georgia
2. Virginia
3. Minnesota
4. Utah
5. Massachusetts
5. Ohio (tied)
7. Missouri
8. Washington
9. Michigan
10. Montana
11. Oregon
12. Pennsylvania
13. Delaware
14. West Virginia
15. Maine
16. California
17. Mississippi
18. Indiana
19. Vermont
20. Idaho
21. Florida
22. North Dakota
23. Wisconsin
24. Arkansas
25. Oklahoma"
Ct is not in the top five...or ten..or 15 or even 25.
Here's another bit. Bid protests. In Mass if a procurement is performed incorrectly it is actually illegal to pay the contractor, even if work is performed. bid protesting is allowed although about 98% of the time a contractor will lose.
"SDE Interchange Joint Venture v. State of Connecticut Commissioner of Transportation, 2010 Conn, Super. LEXIS 3308 (Dec. 21, 2010), involved a bid for reconstruction of the I-91/I-95 interchange in New Haven in which the second lowest bidder (SLB) sought to challenge the award to the low bidder. **The SLB claimed that the low bidder had received in excess of 130 willful and/or serious violations from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration within the last three years and thus was foreclosed by state statute from receiving the award**. That statute provides, in pertinent part, the following:
“No contract shall be awarded by the state or any of its political subdivisions to any person or form or any firm, corporation, partnership or association in which such persons or firms have an interest ... which has been cited for three or more willful or serious violations of any occupational safety and health ... during the three-year period preceding the bid, provided such ... citation has not been set aside following appeal to the appropriate agency or court having jurisdiction ... .”
In its lawsuit against the Commissioner of Transportation (COT), the SLB sought an injunction against the award of the project to the low bidder and an order of mandamus directing the COT to award the project to the SLB.
The COT admitted that he was aware of the low bidder’s safety citations, yet he proceeded with the award because the low bidder had made timely appeal of all the citations, and the appeal process was ongoing. Nevertheless, in response to the lawsuit, the COT filed a motion to dismiss on the ground the SLB lacked standing to file the protest lawsuit. "
How do you do a timely appeal of 130 safety violations and STILL get that ignored? But hey it's just a contractor for CT highways right...everyone is WFH. Would you hire someone with 130 arrests in three and had the charges dropped on each one? I can understand a few but 130 clearly illustrates a lack of performance. Shouldn't the state flag that?
In Mass there are a number of qualifications and debarment breaking down to safety, vertical and horizontal procurement and wage violations.
No such exist in CT because there's no laws governing it.
In terms of openness of information Mass simply has more. Here's the weekly central register https://archives.lib.state.ma.us/bit...=1&isAllowed=y
Nearly 120 pages. Every significant bid (50K or more) for every local government is required to post it here (no charge). It serves as free advertising to the town and helps contractors find work. Ever bid shows the amount who is it for, contact information, notes, due dates etc. CT doesn't have this. It also has what contractors picked up bid specs so contractors know what other contractors are looking at. Group purchasing can be fine but that's largely for areas with declining populations, not growing. It's like a regional school system. If you don't have enough in spending for services you combine with others. If student population increases you can expect towns to leave, same with transit.
The trouble with transit generally is a combination of prevailing wages, a bidding process that has high standards and years to implement new programs or designs. Ubur has an interesting idea of local shipping which can be good. Self driving is the best longterm goal of a hybrid public/private partnership. Say an on demand car 24/7 with an app for more than a rental car but cheaper than a used car say $3-4,000 a year.
"The 25 top-ranked states for overall procurement performance include:
1. Georgia
2. Virginia
3. Minnesota
4. Utah
5. Massachusetts
5. Ohio (tied)
7. Missouri
8. Washington
9. Michigan
10. Montana
11. Oregon
12. Pennsylvania
13. Delaware
14. West Virginia
15. Maine
16. California
17. Mississippi
18. Indiana
19. Vermont
20. Idaho
21. Florida
22. North Dakota
23. Wisconsin
24. Arkansas
25. Oklahoma"
Ct is not in the top five...or ten..or 15 or even 25.
Here's another bit. Bid protests. In Mass if a procurement is performed incorrectly it is actually illegal to pay the contractor, even if work is performed. bid protesting is allowed although about 98% of the time a contractor will lose.
"SDE Interchange Joint Venture v. State of Connecticut Commissioner of Transportation, 2010 Conn, Super. LEXIS 3308 (Dec. 21, 2010), involved a bid for reconstruction of the I-91/I-95 interchange in New Haven in which the second lowest bidder (SLB) sought to challenge the award to the low bidder. **The SLB claimed that the low bidder had received in excess of 130 willful and/or serious violations from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration within the last three years and thus was foreclosed by state statute from receiving the award**. That statute provides, in pertinent part, the following:
“No contract shall be awarded by the state or any of its political subdivisions to any person or form or any firm, corporation, partnership or association in which such persons or firms have an interest ... which has been cited for three or more willful or serious violations of any occupational safety and health ... during the three-year period preceding the bid, provided such ... citation has not been set aside following appeal to the appropriate agency or court having jurisdiction ... .”
In its lawsuit against the Commissioner of Transportation (COT), the SLB sought an injunction against the award of the project to the low bidder and an order of mandamus directing the COT to award the project to the SLB.
The COT admitted that he was aware of the low bidder’s safety citations, yet he proceeded with the award because the low bidder had made timely appeal of all the citations, and the appeal process was ongoing. Nevertheless, in response to the lawsuit, the COT filed a motion to dismiss on the ground the SLB lacked standing to file the protest lawsuit. "
How do you do a timely appeal of 130 safety violations and STILL get that ignored? But hey it's just a contractor for CT highways right...everyone is WFH. Would you hire someone with 130 arrests in three and had the charges dropped on each one? I can understand a few but 130 clearly illustrates a lack of performance. Shouldn't the state flag that?
In Mass there are a number of qualifications and debarment breaking down to safety, vertical and horizontal procurement and wage violations.
No such exist in CT because there's no laws governing it.
In terms of openness of information Mass simply has more. Here's the weekly central register https://archives.lib.state.ma.us/bit...=1&isAllowed=y
Nearly 120 pages. Every significant bid (50K or more) for every local government is required to post it here (no charge). It serves as free advertising to the town and helps contractors find work. Ever bid shows the amount who is it for, contact information, notes, due dates etc. CT doesn't have this. It also has what contractors picked up bid specs so contractors know what other contractors are looking at. Group purchasing can be fine but that's largely for areas with declining populations, not growing. It's like a regional school system. If you don't have enough in spending for services you combine with others. If student population increases you can expect towns to leave, same with transit.
The trouble with transit generally is a combination of prevailing wages, a bidding process that has high standards and years to implement new programs or designs. Ubur has an interesting idea of local shipping which can be good. Self driving is the best longterm goal of a hybrid public/private partnership. Say an on demand car 24/7 with an app for more than a rental car but cheaper than a used car say $3-4,000 a year.
Uh? What are you talking about? Let’s say I am involved in the above. I’ve even protested a bid in CT and won.
Also, CT does a really good job being transparent on upcoming bids. They have advertisements for state and municipal projects online for everyone to see. Also, you can see who is bidding the jobs, the results and even bidding questions all online. Available to everyone. Sure, some stuff is complicated but nothing crazy.
Uh? What are you talking about? Let’s say I am involved in the above. I’ve even protested a bid in CT and won.
Also, CT does a really good job being transparent on upcoming bids. They have advertisements for state and municipal projects online for everyone to see. Also, you can see who is bidding the jobs, the results and even bidding questions all online. Available to everyone. Sure, some stuff is complicated but nothing crazy.
“This state has a culture of not taking competitive bidding seriously,” he said.
Fox’s impromptu speech jumped from missteps by the quasi-public Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) on Dillon to what he saw as a general overstepping by many such quasi-public agencies of the special powers granted to them by the state legislature."
" Leaders of quasi-public agencies often say they need to exercise their special powers and autonomy freely — sometimes skipping competitive bidding, for example — so they can adapt quickly in their administration of such things as ports on Long Island Sound, state airports, the state lottery, and, in the CRDA’s case, regional development.
They call that being “nimble.”
If there's one thing I learned in the trade is you use the laws and take your time. Government isn't for sales although CT thinks it is.
"But Fox has reservations about the word. “Nimble has come to mean all kinds of things that I don’t think were intended with the quasi-publics,” he said.
The meaning of ‘nimble’
“Nimble should not mean having bad procurement policies,” he said. “Nimble should not mean an uneven playing field for people that want to bid on projects. Nimble should not mean sacrificing the due diligence that we need to protect the taxpayers of this state.”
Yeah since everyone in the state thinks it's rich why bother saving money
"The board’s report on Dillon found that certain bidders weren’t provided with the same information as the successful bidder, Hartford Sports Group (HSG), when they responded to the request for proposals, or RFP, that the CRDA handled on behalf of the city of Hartford, which owns the stadium in Colt Park."
So why bother with an open and fair process. It's not like there's a limit of taxation. You guys caved into the income tax easily.
" The board’s report also criticized CRDA for spending about $4 million in state taxpayer money long before a contract was signed in early 2019 for stadium work that was already underway. And it questioned the fact that CRDA tolerated a “sole-source” arrangement that the developer, HSG, entered with an architect without bidding."
Sole source in mass is limited to $35,000 not tens of millions
" Bidding could save $260M a year
Fox harked back to a 2018 study by his board that found the state could save $260 million a year by putting state service contracts out for competitive bid instead of awarding at least 55% of them without competitive bidding.
“We need to say to the agencies of the state, and to the quasi-publics” — which he said seem to have “even more of a problem”— that “we have to get to a culture of respecting the importance of competitive bidding as a critical part ... of how we do [contract] procurement in this state,” he said."
260 million a year. That can be used to fix roads and bridges, school buildings, lighting, graffiti removal, public trains and busses etc.
That's no greater freedom than the freedom of choice. That's taken away if you don't allow for competition.
“This state has a culture of not taking competitive bidding seriously,” he said.
Fox’s impromptu speech jumped from missteps by the quasi-public Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) on Dillon to what he saw as a general overstepping by many such quasi-public agencies of the special powers granted to them by the state legislature."
" Leaders of quasi-public agencies often say they need to exercise their special powers and autonomy freely — sometimes skipping competitive bidding, for example — so they can adapt quickly in their administration of such things as ports on Long Island Sound, state airports, the state lottery, and, in the CRDA’s case, regional development.
They call that being “nimble.”
If there's one thing I learned in the trade is you use the laws and take your time. Government isn't for sales although CT thinks it is.
"But Fox has reservations about the word. “Nimble has come to mean all kinds of things that I don’t think were intended with the quasi-publics,” he said.
The meaning of ‘nimble’
“Nimble should not mean having bad procurement policies,” he said. “Nimble should not mean an uneven playing field for people that want to bid on projects. Nimble should not mean sacrificing the due diligence that we need to protect the taxpayers of this state.”
Yeah since everyone in the state thinks it's rich why bother saving money
"The board’s report on Dillon found that certain bidders weren’t provided with the same information as the successful bidder, Hartford Sports Group (HSG), when they responded to the request for proposals, or RFP, that the CRDA handled on behalf of the city of Hartford, which owns the stadium in Colt Park."
So why bother with an open and fair process. It's not like there's a limit of taxation. You guys caved into the income tax easily.
" The board’s report also criticized CRDA for spending about $4 million in state taxpayer money long before a contract was signed in early 2019 for stadium work that was already underway. And it questioned the fact that CRDA tolerated a “sole-source” arrangement that the developer, HSG, entered with an architect without bidding."
Sole source in mass is limited to $35,000 not tens of millions
" Bidding could save $260M a year
Fox harked back to a 2018 study by his board that found the state could save $260 million a year by putting state service contracts out for competitive bid instead of awarding at least 55% of them without competitive bidding.
“We need to say to the agencies of the state, and to the quasi-publics” — which he said seem to have “even more of a problem”— that “we have to get to a culture of respecting the importance of competitive bidding as a critical part ... of how we do [contract] procurement in this state,” he said."
260 million a year. That can be used to fix roads and bridges, school buildings, lighting, graffiti removal, public trains and busses etc.
That's no greater freedom than the freedom of choice. That's taken away if you don't allow for competition.
The thing you miss in your complaints about Connecticut’s procurement process is that it, like most government decisions, are locally driven. The problem with a state wide standardization of the process would be the loss of individuality and the possibility of not fully meeting the needs of our communities. What works in one town may not work in another. I think it is much more important to fully meet the needs of the user than save a few bucks.
The two projects you note were large highly complex, unique projects for the City of Hartford. It’s a city that is not known for decisiveness. Both were fast tracked projects so the ability to preplan and design was limited so of course there were issues and extras. Dillion Stadium was a renovation project which is difficult sometimes to know what you will find.
I will say that I find it amusing that someone from Massachusetts criticizing Connecticut when that state’s largest transportation project, the Central Artery project is the poster child for cost overruns. It went billions (yes, billions with a capital B) over budget. No wonder Massachusetts tightened their procurement standards. They had to in order to prevent a repeat. In comparison, Connecticut’s largest transportation project, the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge came in $200 million budget. So much for Connecticut having issues.
I’d also like to point out that it is common for out of state contractors to find bidding in another state “strange”. It’s a different state so of course it’s different. That’s expected. Jay
The thing you miss in your complaints about Connecticut’s procurement process is that it, like most government decisions, are locally driven. The problem with a state wide standardization of the process would be the loss of individuality and the possibility of not fully meeting the needs of our communities. What works in one town may not work in another. I think it is much more important to fully meet the needs of the user than save a few bucks.
It's hard to make an argument for different local standards without a state standard. Mass does allow higher local standards on top of stare. Keep in mind federal and stare funding dictates the procurement process. If there is a conflict you go with whatever is stricter. Contractors don't have time to call up every town to get their policies. That's taxing and confusing.
Should we have local teachers and doctors licences? No of course not. Public financing doesn't have different standards so to suggest that different towns need different purchasing laws makes little sense.
Mass still has prudent man law on the books. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prudent_man_rule
To suggest that a fiduciary duty should not exist in the public sector fails a rational basis test.
Invitation to bid *is* the lowest price. Otherwise that's an RFP and thats largely for designers, management contracts and art. You can have qualifications on capacity and of course on bonding, insurance and background checks. Prevailing wages can be debated, REO has been throw out of court a number of times.
Do whatever you want with private funds. If you want something solved with the private sector instead of public go ahead. But public funding has strings attached and we've seen time and time again what happens when it isn't. CDBG was loose and screwed up under Carter. Reagan wanted more reporting. Just as we've seen issues in transit and housing but the solution isn't "Let it ride"
Needs of a community cannot interpreted to ignore ethical, moral and financial standards.
It's hard to make an argument for different local standards without a state standard. Mass does allow higher local standards on top of stare. Keep in mind federal and stare funding dictates the procurement process. If there is a conflict you go with whatever is stricter. Contractors don't have time to call up every town to get their policies. That's taxing and confusing.
Should we have local teachers and doctors licences? No of course not. Public financing doesn't have different standards so to suggest that different towns need different purchasing laws makes little sense.
Mass still has prudent man law on the books. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prudent_man_rule
To suggest that a fiduciary duty should not exist in the public sector fails a rational basis test.
Invitation to bid *is* the lowest price. Otherwise that's an RFP and thats largely for designers, management contracts and art. You can have qualifications on capacity and of course on bonding, insurance and background checks. Prevailing wages can be debated, REO has been throw out of court a number of times.
Do whatever you want with private funds. If you want something solved with the private sector instead of public go ahead. But public funding has strings attached and we've seen time and time again what happens when it isn't. CDBG was loose and screwed up under Carter. Reagan wanted more reporting. Just as we've seen issues in transit and housing but the solution isn't "Let it ride"
Needs of a community cannot interpreted to ignore ethical, moral and financial standards.
The cheapest way is not necessarily the best way, especially when it leads to projects and services that don’t serve the needs of the community it is supposed to serve.
Once again, Connecticut places high importance on local rule and serving the community the best way possible. A large scale state wide standard procurement process will not necessarily provide that. It’s not like Massachusetts has eliminated cost overruns issues. I know MassDOT has a number of projects over budget. It’s Design/Build process has not worked well Town projects in Massachusetts appear to have issues too. Jay
The cheapest way is not necessarily the best way, especially when it leads to projects and services that don’t serve the needs of the community it is supposed to serve.
Once again, Connecticut places high importance on local rule and serving the community the best way possible. A large scale state wide standard procurement process will not necessarily provide that. It’s not like Massachusetts has eliminated cost overruns issues. I know MassDOT has a number of projects over budget. It’s Design/Build process has not worked well Town projects in Massachusetts appear to have issues too. Jay
You aren't making a logical argument and simply using attacks to try to defuse this discussion.
What exactly are needs that would not be served with a uniform system given it does not attract some contractors? Why does CT have *special* needs?
Do you understand that this is the way how the vast majority of the country works? You still have standards to see qualifications. Look at DCAMM certification and Mass Prequalification. It's not like a two man crew shows up and thinks they can make a five story building or repave a road in two days.
Again from a contractor perspective do you want to deal with towns left and right with different standards or have uniform? In Mass the town of washington is extremely small maybe not even 700 people. Brockton is about 100,000. The prevailing wages would differ but the laws and regulations are the same. Businesses want continuity.
Pretending that areas are special and everyone is special is fine for a childrens song or some PC indoctrinated education. But the reality is for policy businesses for for money and the public needs to maximize what they get for it. RFP's can be very expensive and frankly take much longer for vetting. You can't have one person evaluate a RFP, you need a team.
Procurement means apples to apples, oranges to oranges for IFB. There's no "special" lug nuts for a DPW fleet of vehicles.
Just because a project has overruns doesn't mean the process is bad. The very fact that CT doesn't appear within the top 25 states shows that there has to be improvements. What's wrong with maximizing what you get with tax dollars?
If you were to go to say...Dairy Queen on a hot sunny day and get a blizzard but they charged $10. You ask why and they say "We're a franchise and not responsible for the mother companies advertising". So you go to another and it's $15 and another and it's $9 and another and it's $12. That's what it is like being a contractor in CT.
The other aspect is from the local governments perspective is at least in Mass towns know what other towns are doing. You don't have that in CT so you don't know about the timing of what's going on. Someone in Danbury doesn't know what's going on in West Hartford and they both don't know what's going on in Mystic.
When you buy a car is the warranty from the actual car company or from the dealership? Why wouldn't you get a warranty from a dealership? Well I buy a car that way and the dealer closed in two years. They sold the police to another a half hour away. Never again.
You nearly imply as if businesses do not need laws to operate even though without contract laws the vast majority of business ends.
To what manner and what extent can it be argued that "special" needs require no limit on costs in CT? Keep in mind if a place is really affluent why even bother having the public sector do it? Sell land off and do whatever you want. But when you take public funds that's when things change. I know some contractors that don't bother doing public sector work and that's fine.
You aren't making a logical argument and simply using attacks to try to defuse this discussion.
What exactly are needs that would not be served with a uniform system given it does not attract some contractors? Why does CT have *special* needs?
Do you understand that this is the way how the vast majority of the country works? You still have standards to see qualifications. Look at DCAMM certification and Mass Prequalification. It's not like a two man crew shows up and thinks they can make a five story building or repave a road in two days.
Again from a contractor perspective do you want to deal with towns left and right with different standards or have uniform? In Mass the town of washington is extremely small maybe not even 700 people. Brockton is about 100,000. The prevailing wages would differ but the laws and regulations are the same. Businesses want continuity.
Pretending that areas are special and everyone is special is fine for a childrens song or some PC indoctrinated education. But the reality is for policy businesses for for money and the public needs to maximize what they get for it. RFP's can be very expensive and frankly take much longer for vetting. You can't have one person evaluate a RFP, you need a team.
Procurement means apples to apples, oranges to oranges for IFB. There's no "special" lug nuts for a DPW fleet of vehicles.
Just because a project has overruns doesn't mean the process is bad. The very fact that CT doesn't appear within the top 25 states shows that there has to be improvements. What's wrong with maximizing what you get with tax dollars?
If you were to go to say...Dairy Queen on a hot sunny day and get a blizzard but they charged $10. You ask why and they say "We're a franchise and not responsible for the mother companies advertising". So you go to another and it's $15 and another and it's $9 and another and it's $12. That's what it is like being a contractor in CT.
The other aspect is from the local governments perspective is at least in Mass towns know what other towns are doing. You don't have that in CT so you don't know about the timing of what's going on. Someone in Danbury doesn't know what's going on in West Hartford and they both don't know what's going on in Mystic.
When you buy a car is the warranty from the actual car company or from the dealership? Why wouldn't you get a warranty from a dealership? Well I buy a car that way and the dealer closed in two years. They sold the police to another a half hour away. Never again.
You nearly imply as if businesses do not need laws to operate even though without contract laws the vast majority of business ends.
To what manner and what extent can it be argued that "special" needs require no limit on costs in CT? Keep in mind if a place is really affluent why even bother having the public sector do it? Sell land off and do whatever you want. But when you take public funds that's when things change. I know some contractors that don't bother doing public sector work and that's fine.
I’m not sure what you don’t understand. I go to Dairy Queen for a Blizzard I hav3 a wide selection of things to put in it. I want vanilla ice cream, cookies and sprinkles. The state says we don’t put sprinkles in our Blzzards so you can’t get them because the state has not negotiated the price of sprinkles.
I go buy a car and I have a hundred vehicles to choose from and each has a series of options. I don’t need the state telling me what car and what options to get. Why should all towns drive the same car? I don’t see the need. Kind of simple really.
Connecticut is a small state. We like to use and promote small businesses here. The system you propose promotes big business and pushes out small local firms. I’d rather pay a penny or two more to keep our business in state and keep out big national or out of state firm. Again, simple.
You have not really made a good case for reform. It’s not like Massachusetts has found a way to stop cost overruns. I’ve given you several that shows that.
Connecticut has a long and very proud history of local rule. We did away with county governments to preserve that. The only people who do not understand our process or claim our process does not work are those from out of state that don't want to bother to learn it and follow it. They are lazy and quite frankly it shows they do not want to extend themselves. They don’t deserve our consideration. Sorry but you can stay in Massachusetts if you don’t like the way we do things here. We aren’t Massachusetts and don’t want to be. Jay
I’m not sure what you don’t understand. I go to Dairy Queen for a Blizzard I hav3 a wide selection of things to put in it. I want vanilla ice cream, cookies and sprinkles. The state says we don’t put sprinkles in our Blzzards so you can’t get them because the state has not negotiated the price of sprinkles.
I go buy a car and I have a hundred vehicles to choose from and each has a series of options. I don’t need the state telling me what car and what options to get. Why should all towns drive the same car? I don’t see the need. Kind of simple really.
Connecticut is a small state. We like to use and promote small businesses here. The system you propose promotes big business and pushes out small local firms. I’d rather pay a penny or two more to keep our business in state and keep out big national or out of state firm. Again, simple.
You have not really made a good case for reform. It’s not like Massachusetts has found a way to stop cost overruns. I’ve given you several that shows that.
Connecticut has a long and very proud history of local rule. We did away with county governments to preserve that. The only people who do not understand our process or claim our process does not work are those from out of state that don't want to bother to learn it and follow it. They are lazy and quite frankly it shows they do not want to extend themselves. They don’t deserve our consideration. Sorry but you can stay in Massachusetts if you don’t like the way we do things here. We aren’t Massachusetts and don’t want to be. Jay
No it does not promote big business at all. You can try to make the arguement on prevailing wages but I'm not arguing that. You have not made a legit argument that that a lack of uniformity in a violation of the equal protection clause and full faith and credit somehow leads to greater quality of life.
Lazy? Hardly. It's lazy to give out no bid contracts. That's the anger that happened with Iraq and halliburton. Competition drives prices down and the state saves money.
Seriously the article I showed illustrated that hundreds of millions could be saved with changes. You have no right to complain about costs of living or taxes if the policies remain the same. doing away with county government didn't exactly solve anything. As small towns become smaller it becomes harder to hire and harder to contract work.
Obviously you list CRCOG but that's acting as county government in everything but name. The planning commissions and COG's pretty much ARE the old county government so you can't really use that argument as it is hypocritical.
"We're proud to have small towns"
:rders from group purchasing::
If small towns could do these things on their own why would they need state contracts and CRCOG to begin with? Seriously the hypocrisy is thick enough to cut with a machete
No it does not promote big business at all. You can try to make the arguement on prevailing wages but I'm not arguing that. You have not made a legit argument that that a lack of uniformity in a violation of the equal protection clause and full faith and credit somehow leads to greater quality of life.
Lazy? Hardly. It's lazy to give out no bid contracts. That's the anger that happened with Iraq and halliburton. Competition drives prices down and the state saves money.
Seriously the article I showed illustrated that hundreds of millions could be saved with changes. You have no right to complain about costs of living or taxes if the policies remain the same. doing away with county government didn't exactly solve anything. As small towns become smaller it becomes harder to hire and harder to contract work.
Obviously you list CRCOG but that's acting as county government in everything but name. The planning commissions and COG's pretty much ARE the old county government so you can't really use that argument as it is hypocritical.
"We're proud to have small towns"
:rders from group purchasing::
If small towns could do these things on their own why would they need state contracts and CRCOG to begin with? Seriously the hypocrisy is thick enough to cut with a machete
I fail to see any hypocrisy here. I am explaining how procurement works here in Connecticut. You never see me complaining about taxes here. I know they are high but I am willing to pay them to preserve local rule. I say that all the time. You don’t like that, it’s your choice but don’t come here complaining about something that serves our state fine the way it is. You do not even live here.
County governments do a lot more than what CRCOG does. We do not have county roads, parks, county clerks or judicial districts and most importantly taxes. The difference is towns here can pick and choose what services they want from CRCOG. Again local rule.
The state has overall procurement laws that must be followed by all governments. How the towns comply is up to the them. Again it works for us.
I’m sorry but you have failed to show any real advantage to statewide procurement. You claim it saves money which it may but it would be very modest at best. As the examples I gave show, state wide procurement does not stop cost overruns which is what you first started complaining about. To get what is at best a modest savings you must give up local autonomy and accountability. That is a price Connecticut is not willing to pay. That is our state’s choice. Accept it already. Jay
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
rders from group purchasing:: 
Seriously the hypocrisy is thick enough to cut with a machete
