CT Post reporter Brian Lockhart chronicles Bridgeport dairy owner Doug Wade’s frustration with the school system’s bidding process to select a milk supplier. Wade hopes Tuesday’s bid application isn’t sour.
Dairy owner Doug Wade suspects Connecticut’s largest city is spilling its milk money.
Dairy puns aside, that is no laughing matter when talking about potentially thousands of dollars and a financially strapped urban school system.
As Wade prepares to compete Tuesday for the $800,000 contract to supply Bridgeport’s public school cafeterias, he is alleging the school district last year hired an overpriced New Jersey company through a flawed bidding process and ignored his pleas to reconsider.
“What we laid out was not sour grapes,” Wade said of the case he and his son, Ryan Wade, unsuccessfully outlined a year ago to the district’s food services and the city’s purchasing offices.
Full story here.
As someone who looks at more than a few City numbers, I can understand the frustration felt by a businessman who feels info supplied to vendors on which to place a bid that must ultimately be lived with is critical. In this case a number of units assumed, drastically underreporting the actual number, seems to have made a difference, according to Doug Wade and his son who have looked into the matter.
Doug is current manager of this long-time local business, a member of the BRBC and though he lives out of town, is a City booster including the incumbent executive. No word from the Director of the Nutrition Program yet and we should hear what she has to add to the information. We should expect no one party receives more info than another party so pencils get sharpened to provide the lowest prices for what is purchased. Of course the nutrition funds come from Federal dollars, and perhaps there is some added interest when questions arise concerning $800,000 of a $14 Million Federal grant. Time will tell.
How much money did the New Jersey company donate to the Finch re-election campaign to turn a blind eye to this overcharge for milk?
Here the city is allowing towing companies to seize cars for back taxes and not receiving a dime. And they went out of state for a more expensive milk contract for the public schools? Bill Finch is out of touch. A competent chief executive would have 86ed this deal tout de suite. Apparently he was out of the office on a photo call.
It seems to me a local company that offered a lower bid should be the one chosen as the milk supplier. The current choice doesn’t make sense, especially since it only seems fair to give the contract to a local supplier.
Once away from the Bridgeport of Finch, I am not cynical and I realize it.
It’s a matter of trust and I don’t trust Finch, too many kiss-ups on his part, he is realistically trying to put on a face to apply for another job after he gets fired from this one too, but the face is fake.
Just for the record: I have concerns about possible impropriety with the Nutrition Center (run by the Board of Education). This has nothing to do with the mayor or his administration.