City contracts and bids?

[dealtimeman]

Does anyone currently have a contract with a municipality or any government department?

Is it worth it to jump through all the hoops and hurdles?

Do you make money or is just a price war?

 

[RickL]

I've never done any cleaning/maint bids for the goverment, but I did a lot in the industry I was in prior to starting my own cleaning business. To keep it short it can be a real pain or it can be okay depending on how they put it out to public. Hi-tech was a pain always
If they do an RFP or RFQ a lot of times they don't really know what they are doing and it really doesn't apply but they'll tell ya to just answer. I got a bunch of stories about huge wastes of our money.
I will say that they are all about hiring minority firms so if a company comes in at a higher price, not as experienced, nor have as good equipment they but are minority owned theywill get the job.
I would contact Bruce Swartz, not sure if he's on MB but he is on ICS and you can look him up. He does a lot of big goverment jobs

 

[Mike Draper]

so in other words...the government will choose you to work for them based on the color of your skin, not on the content of your character or quality of service you render. Must be run by Liberals.

 

[K P]

Have a friend with contracts for the county,I dont know about other goverment entities,but his dealings are prety smooth and they just keep renewing with him.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

I do a lot of city and state work. No problem. City hall in Murray this weekend KY Dam state park convention center next week.

Reputation and relationship.

 

[rwcarpet]

Not a problem here. The key is to clean smaller areas at one time to keep the cost down under the bid limit. I clean for City Hall, and they have a no-bid discretionary limit of maybe $1000.....maybe higher, I'm not sure.



It helps to know the maintenance staff, also.

 

[GeneMiller]

I used to clean for the county. my company is listed in my wife's name and that makes me a minority. i would bid my regular price and still get plenty of work. they pay well and on time. they still send me the bid forms but a rarely bother . I don't care for the hours.

gene

 

[Desk Jockey]

We don't any government work, they don't just want you to have color they want you to work for slave rates and smile while you work for pennies. We do some for our city, county and state. Not because we's brrownn, but because we respond quickly and can handle their emergency work.

Paperwork work and red tape along with cheap rates has kept us out of government work. I'd love to get it, but not willing to jump through hoops for for it, especially for pennies.

 

[K P]

Richard,it is because you are brown that they expect cheap :shock:

 

[Desk Jockey]

Nawwww we are the high priced guys. They only call us when no one else will do it or when no one else can do it.

 

[rwcarpet]

We don't any government work, they don't just want you to have color they want you to work for slave rates and smile while you work for pennies. We do some for our city, county and state. Not because we's brrownn, but because we respond quickly and can handle their emergency work.

Paperwork work and red tape along with cheap rates has kept us out of government work. I'd love to get it, but not willing to jump through hoops for for it, especially for pennies.

The only paperwork BS involved with the city is when you contract out a service, such as janitorial work on a regular schedule. Then it's about 8 inches thick. Hell...they probably want your FB password nowadays.

 

[dealtimeman]

So just turned in the bid and have to admit that we just got it in in time as they unseal all bids at 2:00.

I asked a few questions while in purchasing and was told that it was to come down to price as long as the bid and correct paperwork was filed correctly.

This is a big step forward for our company and hope that somehow we get it.

 

[dealtimeman]

In main council chamber waiting for bids to be unsealed and read. All other companies representative are acting like they are all friends and laughing. I am clearly an outsider in this envirement.

 

[Desk Jockey]

If you lose I've found that it is a great stress reliver if you yell "BULLSH*T this bidding was rigged" and walk out................or be escorted out which ever happens first to come first. :mrgreen:


Good luck man hope you get it! 8)

 

[Ross Buettner]

Um... wow.

I have two city contracts. They weren't that bad. One is on it's 6th year renewing the 2nd time. The other is on it's last year of 3, with renewing in the works.

Government is specific of the scope of the work being done. They don't understand our mumbo jumbo. They want something done, and want to know how you will do it, and when it'll be done. That's not asking a whole lot.

There's a good amount of red tape involved. Once you get around that it's smooth sailing. They pay on time, are very specific about their questions, and require minimal contact once you have a system working with them.

It's a little more work for a very solid and noteworthy relationship with that customer.

 

[dealtimeman]

Needles to say we lost. But losing doesnt bother as it only took a couple of hours to complete.we were beat by more than 49000 :shock: by a total line item total of 69500 to the winning bid of 18500 :shock: .
As I walked out I spoke with the representative of the winner (lowest bid). And asked how they could be that low and they gave no specific details.

In my calculation we bid about twenty percent lower than my regular numbers and was still off by a substantial amount.

The company is Blackmon mourning and have so much overhead I don't understand how thy arrived at such a low number. I did a little research and found they currently have the contract and used there exact number for the last contract on this proposal.

I could see losing 10,000.00 on cleaning side to make 100,000.00 on the restoration side but even at that their number would still flirting with the red.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I could see losing 10,000.00 on cleaning side to make 100,000.00 on the restoration side but even at that their number would still flirting with the red.

So they have to be losing their ass on the carpet cleaning figuring it's worth the restoration work? Crazy!

I knew a guy in Wichita that bought a brand new Prochem TM to clean carpet in all his janitoral accounts for free. Yep free as long as they maintained their janitorial account with them. :shock:

 

[dealtimeman]

I could see losing 10,000.00 on cleaning side to make 100,000.00 on the restoration side but even at that their number would still flirting with the red.

So they have to be losing their ass on the carpet cleaning figuring it's worth the restoration work? Crazy!

I knew a guy in Wichita that bought a brand new Prochem TM to clean carpet in all his janitoral accounts for free. Yep free as long as they maintained their janitorial account with them. :shock:

We have janitorial company that does the same, they clean the caprt for free as long as they maintain the contract locked. I do receive calls from the companies that they service like, is it standard to dry the carpet with blowers after cleaning and they just cleaned yesterday, why does it smell funky today?

I always respond (I know the maiantance supervisor) with, how much did it cost you? That cuts the call short but usually they say how they want us back but are restricted on just price.