The City of Soldotna passed a resolution authorizing the purchase of a new crane for the utility department in the amount of $24,509.59 from Bob’s Services. The city requested quotes from two vendors, for procurement and installation of a new utility crane and received two quotes that were approximately $64 apart in pricing.
City Manager Stephanie Queen says:
“This is a piece of equipment that was approved in the operating budget in the equipment replacement fund. There are limited vendors in the state that can deliver this item as specified to meet our needs and we did receive two quotes. As we mentioned in the memo, the quotes were very close together in price. One of them is a brand that fits with some existing pieces of equipment within our fleet. Our maintenance department manager Scott Sundberg authorized the council to award the purchase to the bid that’s approximately $64 higher because it would then assist with streamlining some of our equipment with our existing crane. As this is not an RFP, it’s an informal quote. We have the ability to do that from a procurement standpoint not only to consider the lowest price but also other factors that might be of importance to the city. I bring this forward for your consideration from the maintenance department requesting that we authorize the purchase from Bob’s Services.”
According to Sundberg, there are limited vendors in the state and one vendor recently went out of business. He requested the higher quote to continue standardization within the city fleet as the current crane and the shop truck are both Stellar cranes. In addition, he feels the price is close enough that it would be better for safety, operations, and maintenance of the cranes to stick with Stellar.
Resolution 2021-057 unanimously passed the Soldotna City Council
