SAYING that the bidding process was flawed, the Office of the Public Auditor has acted favorably on Herman Modern Bakery’s appeal regarding its bid for food services at the Department of Corrections.
In a decision issued Wednesday, OPA ordered that the cancellation of the invitation to bid, or ITB, on June 28 be rescinded.
“The public auditor determines that Herman’s Modern Bakery was responsive to the ITB’s pricing requirements and it submitted the lowest-cost bid based on the ITB’s evaluation criteria and requirements,†stated James W. Tayler, OPA legal counsel, with Public Auditor Michael Pai concurring.
It was determined that Herman’s Modern Bakery had the lowest cost and was the most responsive and responsible bidder.
OPA said the bakery should be awarded the contract for meal services as soon as possible.
However, the current contractor, MJ Kitchenette, may continue serving food at Corrections through bi-monthly change orders at the discretion of the expenditure authority in conjunction with the Division of Procurement and Supply until a contract is awarded to Herman’s Modern Bakery.
But OPA said the change order extensions are limited to a period of six months only.
Should the six-month period is exceeded, Procurement and Supply is directed to notify the public auditor.
The bakery appealed the denial of its bid protest submitted on June 11 over the cancellation of the ITB for food services at Corrections and the failure of the procurement agency to respond to its protest.
OPA legal counsel James W. Taylor said “the process used in this procurement was flawed with several inconsistent actions and the insertion of an evaluation factor that was not in the ITB.â€
OPA found that Procurement and Supply evaluated the bids after making an initial evaluation, canceled the ITB, then rescinded the cancellation after the award announcement.
OPA said it does not normally interfere with the decisions of the procuring agency or the Division of Procurement and Supply “if such decisions are done in good faith and in compliance with applicable law and regulations.â€
However, OPA said it has to rectify a “flawed†bidding process.
On Oct. 13, 2011, Herman’s Modern Bakery responded to an invitation to bid with the lowest cost bid.
However, the expenditure authority or procuring agency, the Department of Corrections, added food sampling as an evaluation requirement only after the bid had been opened and after Herman’s failed to submit food samples.
Corrections then awarded the contract to MJ Kitchenette, but Procurement and Supply determined that the award should go to Herman’s as it found material defects in MJ Kitchenette’s bid.
In requesting for food samples, OPA said, Corrections acted in excess of legal authority and it should not have influenced the selection of bid.
Procurement and Supply, for its part, agreed to the cancellation of the ITB, then rescinded its agreement with the cancellation of the ITB, then rescinded agreement with the cancellation and the cancellation itself, then found MJ Kitchenette as intended awardee but later found defects in its bid that led it to declare Herman’s as the intended awardee. It then cancelled the procurement due to deficiencies in specifications.
OPA said this caused a “great deal of confusion†that benefitted MJ Kitchenette which continues providing services at $70,200 a month.
OPA said the contract with MJ Kitchenette has been extended with Change Order #9 in progress covering Sept. 30.
The total contract obligation for MJ Kitchenette up to July 31 amounted to $3,017,485.
“It is not known whether these change order extensions to MJ Kitchenette contract exceed the six-month limitation on such contract extensions,†said OPA.
It added that there was a great deal of confusion in handling the procurement process and there was also a violation of the regulatory provisions.
According to the CNMI Department of Labor’s list of companies, Aida L. Garong Ada is doing business as MK Kitchenette & Catering.