Recently, Guilford County government sent out bids to get unit pricing for basic vehicle and repair services for the cars and other autos in multiple Guilford County departments – and those services will now be lumped together under a new contract with five vendors.
The scope of work that will be included in this three-year, nearly $2-million deal, will cover – for much of the county’s fleet of cars, trucks and SUVs – “Preventative Maintenance Services, Automotive System Diagnosis, and Up-fitting Services.”
Preventative Maintenance Services includes things such as fluid/filter changes, tire repair, tire rotation, and brake pad replacement,” county documents note.
Also, “Automotive System Diagnosis includes things such as lighting and electrical systems, fuel systems, cooling systems, and drive trains, [and] up-fitting services includes things such as emergency lighting, sirens, prisoner/canine containment systems, and two-way radio systems.”
This deal – a collaborative effort between the county’s Fleet Operations Department, the Sheriff’s Office, Emergency Services, Risk Management and the Transportation Department – calls for Guilford County to contract with five different service providers.
The initial three-year contract will set the county back $1,995,000.
Currently, each renewal option is expected to be $675,000 annually – with the total cost of the five-year contract to the county to be $3,345,000, if the contract ends up extending out that far, that is.
County staff are recommending the move, saying it will provide 900 Guilford County vehicles in the fleet with access to “timely, affordable and predictable vehicle maintenance and repair services” across several departments.
The initial three-year term of the contract starts on October 1, 2024 – with two additional one-year renewal options that could extend the deal to 2029.
The contract involves five different service companies…
- Dana Safety Supply
• Ilderton Dodge - Piedmont Specialty Vehicle Service
- Rice Motor Company
- Tiremax of Greensboro
The contracts have been recommended by county staff, and county commissioners are expected to approve the move on Thursday, Sept. 19, when the Guilford County Board of Commissioners next meets again.
Another overly-expensive political search for something that could be done for far less. Why doesn’t County have it’s own “motor pool”?
The city used to have garage facilities located on Patton Ave. that did maintenance and repair on city vehicles. It seemed to work pretty well and if it is still in operation, why wouldn’t the county take a similar tact? Being a dedicated county facility would mean better accountability and not having repeated bids from garages with a profit motive seems a cost effective alternative. Since the county loves to hire managers, a maintence and repair facilities manager would be better money spent than blowing taxpayer dollars on a public relations or a DIE director.
$1.7 million dollars would be a good start for county services instead of buying politicians votes.