$773.00 for a trash can?

I thought I would share my letter to the editor of the Star Bulletin in the likely event that it ends up in his $10.00 round file. This was written in response to the linked article below on the City and County spending $773.00 on a trash can.

http://starbulletin.com/2005/03/19/news/index1.html

March 19, 2005

Dear Star Bulletin Editor:

I read your headline story entitled, $773 for a Trash Can and like most who read it, I got angry. However, unlike most people, my anger is NOT directed towards the Harris administration for spending that much money on trash cans.

My company sells and distributes outdoor site furnishings and we were one of the local companies with similar products that were not given an opportunity to bid on this project. Therefore, if anyone should have a problem with a "sole source "contact of this nature, it should be us. However, my ire is focused on the statement made by the City auditor that "$300,000 could have been saved if they shopped around." This leaves readers with the impression that the City could purchase a trash can of equal quality and value for half of the price. That is just not true. It also insinuates that responsible City purchasing is adorning our City with cheapest products we can find. For outdoor site furnishings in our tropical environment, a significantly lower price tag means lower quality, a shorter life span, and a much greater "long term" cost to the taxpayer.

What we need to do is to take a hard look at the procurement laws that Mr. Tanaka is tasked to enforce. City officials are forced to purchase the lowest- priced products with no consideration to quality, product life, service, or warranties. Nationwide, Honolulu is one of the few major cities in the U.S. that does not have a procurement law that encourages evaluation of the quality and price of the products that we buy.

I once participated in a forum with a group of Japanese businessmen and tried to explain Hawaii’s low bid purchasing system to them. I explained that the City and County solicited bids publicly and the prices are listed from low to high and read publicly. The response was, "Oh, knowing who offers the lowest price seems to be a good way to AVOID purchasing the cheapest products!"

Mike McFarlane
Island Recreation