Administration
First of Three Parts
How to Write Municipal Mobile Equipment Specifications in the New Decade
When finding yourself faced with the responsibility of preparing mobile equipment specifications for your municipality, take into account your county鈥檚 protocols and guidelines during the planning process.
Martin I. Dareff, CPPB, CPPO
These series of articles have been written to provide assistance to individuals who find themselves faced with the responsibility of preparing mobile equipment specifications for their city, county, agency or municipality, and who may have had little or no formal training in specification writing or performing mobile equipment market research. Municipality, as used in this guide is an interchangeable term for city, county, agency, governing body, association or similar authority.
Getting Started
First, determine if your municipality has ordinances or procedures that govern the way you do your product market research and specification development. As an example, Miami-Dade Country (MDC) has a Cone-of-Silence Ordinance that prohibits County staff from all verbal and some written communications with vendors, once the bid that contains the specifications has been advertised for bidding. Since County employees outside the main procurement process may not have a practical way of knowing when that advertising trigger occurs, all communications about a bid or its requirements should be handled by your agency鈥檚 procurement section or by the appropriate Department of Procurement Management once the development work is completed.
Your municipality may have different procedures or timelines that are dependant upon the anticipated dollar threshold of the planned acquisition. In Miami-Dade County the Fleet Management Division (FMD) of the General Services Administration (GSA) is responsible for reviewing and approving the technical content of Miami-Dade County mobile equipment purchases. After approval, the FMD will submit those specifications to the Department of Procurement Management (DPM) for processing. All protocols and time guidelines should be taken into account in your planning process. Your anticipated product and specification research and development time, the times for other agencies鈥� reviews, timelines to formulate the specifications into an Invitation To Bid (ITB) and obtain all necessary internal approvals such as budget office and executive management, time for the ITB to be on the 鈥渟treet鈥� and an allowance for response evaluation time, scheduling of any required Board or Commission approvals, time allowances for protests, along with the anticipated product build time should all be considered and used to plan the starting time for the development of the research and specifications for the needed equipment.
The purpose of good mobile equipment specifications is to obtain equipment for the municipality, that is properly equipped and well suited for performing the work required, while providing the right level of product quality and durability while being purchased in an effective manner that provides for delivery of the equipment at the needed time, while promoting open and competitive bidding in a manner that assures the municipality the greatest degree of bid competition and the best price. This is a concept known as value purchasing. In short, the right item at the right time at the right price.
Good specifications cannot be written until the writer has become thoroughly knowledgeable about the equipment users鈥� required work tasks and functions. Once that has been learned a market research study to discover all comparable equipment in the marketplace that will perform that required work should be done. Specifications are then developed that allow for the bidding of products that can perform the required work without the need for bidders to take exceptions to the ITB鈥檚 requirements since your market research has found varying manufacturer鈥檚 brands that can meet the work requirements of your equipment鈥檚 user. The greater the number of vendors and manufacturers that are able to tender responsive responsible proposals to your specifications and ITB, the lower the resulting awarded prices will likely be to the municipality. These purchasing concepts are frequently overlooked and are among the best practices and methods to obtain the right product at the right time and right price. In some instances, low bid purchasing of mobile equipment has gotten a bad name when minimum standards of construction, performance, fit and finish, durability, serviceability and warranty are not covered in the ITB鈥檚 requirements. Knowledge of the principles, practices and methods will enable you to avoid those purchasing shortfalls.
Need Versus Want
Everyone wants to drive a Mercedes but the reality is that the automobile or truck being operated is a taxpayer funded municipally issued work tool. A Chevrolet Malibu, Toyota Prius, Ford Focus and many other compact and mid-sized vehicles can transport employees from one worksite to another at a much lower cost. Be sensitive to public perception. There is no need for leather interiors, add on window films, elevated trim levels and other optional expenses based on an individuals or an agency鈥檚 want. They do not affect the work function of the vehicle. The size (compact, mid-size, full size) and level of accoutrements furnished is a local decision and manufacturer鈥檚 standard equipment is a good guideline for work vehicles. Specification writers should be careful about the addition of other items that may be requested as 鈥渘eeded鈥� since they may require the addition of other levels of fitments. An example of this might be a built-in GPS system which can require an interior trim and seating material upgrades as well as upgrades to stereo systems and can cost several thousand dollars to achieve the same work function as an under $100 aftermarket device or a free cell phone application. Your agency鈥檚 level of authorized equipment may vary by geographic location. Air-conditioning is required in the tropics, cold start systems are required for northern city trucks, needs vary as situations change. Know your customer, know your area, know what work needs to be performed and write your specification requirements accordingly.
How Many am I Buying and How Often Do I Need to Buy Them?
While this information is important to the preparation of the ITB, and can have a significant impact on the pricing received, it does not affect the technical content of the specifications you are preparing. From a purchasing perspective, frequent, repeated or annual purchases may affect the length of the contract solicited, the method of award, the applicability of optional contract renewal periods, the use of price escalator clauses or other factors. These factors can and will impact the unit prices offered to your municipality and should be discussed with your procurement agency to assure selection of the most applicable terms and conditions for your ITB.
Methods of Award
The methodology used in determining the lowest responsive responsible bidder can be one of the most overlooked areas of potential savings to your agency. There are various factors that can and should be considered, as applicable, in the award. For light automotive, vans, pickups and SUV acquisitions under 8,200 lbs. GVWR, the EPA and vehicle manufacturer鈥檚 publish fuel mileage ratings which can be expected for typical city and highway driving. The specification writer should determine an average mix of city and highway driving for the light equipment they purchase, and the expected length of service (in miles) for the fleet or vehicle. Coupled with your, or your procurement agency鈥檚 best expectation of per gallon fuel costs for the vehicle鈥檚 life expectancy, calculations can be made (EPA city + EPA highway mileage, divided percentage-wise for the miles of life expectancy, plus fuel pricing consideration) to provide you with an anticipated lifecycle fuel cost to add to your bid price in determining the lowest bidder. The mix used by Miami-Dade County is 100,000 miles of operation and 65 percent city, 35 percent highway operation.
Other types of vehicles may have other considerations used in award calculations. Several of the more common are: guaranteed buyback pricing where a price to buyback the vehicle from the municipality at a certain age/mileage is part of the offer, total cost bids where buyback pricing and a guaranteed maximum cost of repairs is offered with an equipment price, and trade in pricing where an existing vehicle is offered for trade-in pricing as part of the bid award. Specification writers are encouraged to consult with their procurement agency to determine award methods that encourage, to the greatest extent practical, lifecycle cost results in their ITB packages.
How is a Formal Bid Organized?
The bids of many municipal entities, including Miami-Dade County as discussed herein, consists of several sections that can be generically referred to in the procurement process by their type of content. Section 1 is called the 鈥淕eneral Terms and Conditions鈥� or 鈥渂oilerplate鈥�. It contains all of the County鈥檚 policies, ordinances, practices and legal requirements for bidding. This section is not subject to modification or change by user agencies.
Section 2 is called 鈥淪pecial Terms and Conditions鈥� and contains those requirements that may be uniquely applicable to the commodity being purchased through that solicitation. Those requirements change depending on the needs of the user agencies and the nature of the commodity, service or capital item being acquired by that ITB. This section will also contain the clauses detailing the length of contract, method of award and other terms and conditions which will form the contract entered into with the awarded bidder. In Miami-Dade County, the author developed a comprehensive section of special requirements used specifically for the solicitation of mobile equipment. This section appears in Miami-Dade County ITB as Subsection 2.9, has been in use for two decades and has been reprinted in its current form at the end of this manual. These special clauses cover many potentially troublesome topics of mobile equipment bidding, including:
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The way the bids will be evaluated for technical compliance including the bidding of equal products, no substitution components, manufacturer鈥檚 catalogues and brochures and product demonstrations.
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Rules and regulations about the equipment furnished and its compliance with varying State and Federal regulations, particularly 2010 EPA emissions regulations and 2010 FDOT braking requirements, and designated association standards and best commercial practices.
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The bidder鈥檚 status as a manufacturer or manufacturer鈥檚 representative and the resulting requirements for a service facility, OEM parts availability located in the area.
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The warranty and delivery condition requirements of the vehicle and remedial time frames for discrepancies.
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OEM Parts and Services Supply Contract agreements if needed.
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Delivery requirements and payment schedules including the supply of Manufacturer鈥檚 Statements of Origin (MSO) and title application documents.
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The supply of various service, service training, instructional and operational manuals.
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Pre-construction conferences as/if required.
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Prototype or production inspections as/if required.
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State motor vehicle dealer requirements.
Since ITB鈥檚 rules, regulations, special terms and conditions and bid procedures work hand-in-hand with technical specifications, and in many cases govern the interpretation of materials furnished in a bid response, they should be read and understood thoroughly prior to the start of any mobile equipment technical specification writing. Section 3 is the technical specifications of the commodity, service or capital equipment item you are purchasing through that ITB. Section 4 is the Bid Proposal portion and the section where the vendor records and returns their prices for the item or services requested.
How is a Quote Organized?
Depending on the requirements of your municipality and the dollar thresholds involved, quotations may be organized and handled in different ways than an ITB is. In Miami-Dade County verbal quotations are not permitted and price quotations must be requested by facsimile. Specific dollar authorization levels are permitted for quotes by agencies outside the Department of Procurement Management. Facsimile quotations that are within the limits for departmental or divisional quotations should be organized in a manner similar to a competitive bid. The Request for Quotations (RFQ) should contain all of the Terms and Conditions of the quote, the technical specifications of the equipment involved and a quotation proposal page that is returned via facsimile to the purchasing agent. It is recommended that the applicable Special Conditions for Bidding Mobile Equipment be included as part of any facsimile mobile equipment quotation request.
Three Types of Specifications
Specifications can take three forms. They can be technically-based, work function-based or based upon a combination of technical and work requirements.
Technically-Based Specifications
Technically-based specifications describe in detail lengths, widths, heights, thicknesses, methods of construction or assembly, horsepower requirements, capacities or flow requirements, pressures, distances and other quantifiable finite attributes of the needed equipment. Technically-based specifications are the most difficult to research and the most time consuming to write. They require you to know in great detail the work requirements of the unit being specified as well as the capabilities, build, construction and finite details of all potentially equivalent competing equipment. Significant specific product research and knowledge is required to verify potential competitors have not been written out of your specifications inadvertently, by an inch or a pound. When using this type of specification, you may be required to justify any or all of the dimensions, construction methods, capacities, minimum requirements or other quantified details you have included in the specifications. This request can come from potential vendors, manufacturer鈥檚 sales representatives, municipal management or elected decision and policy makers. A good specification writer will not include quantifiable requirements that have not been researched and do not have proper supporting operational grounds for inclusion.
Work-Based Specifications
Work-based specifications describe in detail the equipment鈥檚 work requirements and leave the details of the equipment and the 鈥渉ow to鈥� up to the potential bidder. Work-based specifications can be the easiest of the specification types to write as you 鈥渙nly鈥� need detailed knowledge of the work requirements that must be performed. The major drawback to this style of specification writing is its open-ended nature. This can allow a bidder to propose equipment that may do the work required, but may do so in a manner that is inadequate, inappropriate or unsuited for the particular municipal operations.
Combination-Type Specifications
Combination type specifications combine the attributes (or the drawbacks) of the other two types of specifications and provide the specification writer with the greatest flexibility. The two different types can be combined in varying degrees, at the discretion of the writer, to create a finished specification that contains both finite requirements and work-based requirements. It offers the challenge and opportunity to use the finite requirements of the tasks at hand with the expertise and experience of the equipment industry in finding solutions and tailoring products to meet municipal needs in the most effective, cost-efficient manner possible. In the absence of extraordinary circumstances this should be the specification writing method of choice for mobile equipment.
Miami-Dade County follows the principals and practices of the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP). As a municipality they do not accept exceptions to technical specifications or boilerplate requirements, and all evaluations of bid responses are so governed.
Product Information and Sample Specifications
The National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP) encourages municipal member agencies to submit bid solicitations and maintains a library of specifications that is available to members. They can be a valuable resource and an excellent source of know how.
Federal, State, and other municipal governments are excellent sources of specifications and product usage knowledge. They can also be viable avenues through which your municipality may purchase or 鈥減iggy-back鈥� onto an existing contract when that contract provides applicable equipment. This can be a time expedient method to obtain needed equipment at highly discounted prices. The Federal Government, various states including the State of Florida as well as other municipal and governmental entities maintain websites with information about their purchasing programs, awarded contracts and contact information. Since your agency may only buy one or two units of an equipment type annually, while your state may buy a hundred, the federal government may buy thousands, 鈥減iggy-backing鈥� this type of purchase can save significant time, resources and money for your municipality. The availability of these types of contracts and the compatibility of awarded equipment with the needs of your municipality should be closely evaluated whenever the acquisition of generic equipment or the use of on outside agency鈥檚 contract is involved. If you write specifications for mobile equipment on a regular basis you should stay familiar with the equipment that is available from other major municipal, state and federally awarded contracts. Several significant Web sites include:
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Federal GSA: www.gsaelibrary.gsa.gov/ElibMain/home.do
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State of Florida: http://dms.myflorida.com/business_operations/state_purchasing/vendor_information/state_contracts_agreements_and_price_lists/state_term_contracts /
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State of Florida DOT: www.dot.state.fl.us
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NIGP Web site:
Most if not all equipment manufacturers and many equipment distributors and dealers also maintain Web sites that may be extremely useful for obtaining product information and doing market research.
What Should I Watch Out For?
In many instances inexperienced specification writers will confuse material that can be copied from a manufacturer鈥檚 brochure, or technical specifications furnished by a prospective vendor, as correct technical specifications that meet their requirements. While completing specifications in this manner may seem to be an easy path to get the product you are familiar with or want, this practice will result in biased specifications that favor the bidding of one manufacturer鈥檚 product over another. When detected, such specifications should be rejected by the specification writer or fleet management agency during their pre-procurement review. The use of such biased materials may result in vendor or manufacturer complaints or bid protests should the specifications become an ITB or ITQ. This practice will effectively lessen or eliminate competition and result in higher prices besides potentially creating the appearance of a conflict of interest or collusion with a potential supplier. Additionally, in the State of Florida statute makes intentional bid bias a second-degree felony. Any of these could create embarrassment or worse to the specification writer, the agency they work for and their municipal government. In the current climate it is generally not flattering to read about yourself in the newspaper and certainly not about an issue that could have been avoided by exercising your due diligence. For these reasons using specifications furnished by a manufacturer or an individual company, or directly copying verbiage or specifications from a specific manufacturer鈥檚 brochure should be conscientiously avoided.
Part two will discuss where to begin your research, tips on organizing the information and putting it on paper.
Martin I. Dareff, CPPO, has more than 40 years of experience in the mobile equipment and ground transportation industries. He is a graduate of the University of Miami and an active member of the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing. He manages the Equipment Services section of the Miami-Dade County Fleet Management Division, where he has written hundreds of specifications involving all types of mobile equipment and fleet service support contracting. Under his guidance more than 50 million dollars a year in capital mobile equipment and outside services and repairs are contracted. His product application and design experience extends through both the public and private sectors. Martin is an authority on municipal chassis engineering and the development and application of equipment performance standards. He has done pioneering design and development work for equipment used in the refuse collection, trash collection and the sewer cleaning industries. He has lectured on mobile equipment purchasing for the National Association of Fleet Administrators and served as a hearing examiner. He has devoted time to municipal task forces, selection committees and has been consulted by numerous public entities, private sector businesses and equipment manufacturers. Martin can be reached at (305) 375-2302 or via e-mail at [email protected].