Friends:
If you are a roofing specifier (Architect, Consultant, and others), you may want to read this. It can save you a lot of heartburn, and grief.
Mr. Dziuban does a very nice job with his presentation, and I am thankful for CPR, and their leadership.
If you think Purchasing Cooperatives, and "sole source" roofing are out of hand, just wait. They are trying very hard to control ALL ASPECTS of construction. They are even suggesting a Purchasing Cooperative add General Contracting to their offering. Absurd, this fosters price gouging, and great opportunity for payoffs, bid rigging, etc.
I don't think General Contractors will stand for it anymore than we do in Roofing. Roofing is one of about 20 trades involved in a project, so that's a lot of sub-trades getting shut out.
It's a very common SCAM folks, and we need to tell Administrators we're not going to break the law. All we want is a fair opportunity to bid on Public work, and compete for our own tax dollars.
This problem is nationwide, and decimates school maintenance budgets. Roofing is the costliest item in any school maintenance budget which is why the SCAM is focused on Administrators who don't know any better. or get paid to "go along". We're talking many millions of dollars overspent, 25% to a salesman's pocket, 2% for the Cooperative, and the taxpayers dollar, just turned into .73 and nothing to show for it.
"Competition" occurs when a minimum of 4 Roofing Material Manufacturers (GAF, Johns MLanville, Firestone, Carlisle, and more) quote pricing for any of their approved applicators.
From there, we use the pricing to prepare a hard bid, and the project is awarded to the lowest responsible bidder. If you're worried about "low bidding scenarios, a Performance and Payment Bond will assuage your fears.
All school images are stock photos, and are not related to the article. They are added by me to break up the monotony.
This is why the cost of school building projects are literally going through the roof:
Robert Dziuban
Updated Apr 6, 2017; Posted Apr 6, 20177
By Robert Dziuban
In
the past decade, there has been a massive, secretive theft of hundreds of
millions of dollars in taxpayer money in Pennsylvania and across the nation.
School districts across the country are
paying twice as much as they should for roofing projects. And in Pennsylvania,
the problem is most severe.
It's time to stop this widespread larceny,
and the path is straightforward--enact legislation that restores open,
competitive bidding on all roofing projects.
A
survey of state roofing projects by Ducker Worldwide found that Pennsylvania
schools that purchased roofs through the Association of Educational Purchasing
Agencies spent $100 million more on the projects from 2005 to 2010 than they
would have through public competitive bidding. Here is the survey,
as well as studies in other states.
With $100 million, Pennsylvania could have
purchased 33 million school lunches for low-income students, or nearly 100,000
computers for its schools.
You would think numbers like these would
spur action in Harrisburg, but a study of contracts awarded from 2011 to 2015
shows the process of overcharging continues.
In virtually every state in which investigations
into public school roofing projects have been conducted, anti-competitive,
wasteful practices have been uncovered.
A 2015 audit found that Baltimore Public
County Schools, using the Pa. cooperative purchasing program, estimated that
since 2006, they had overpaid $11 million for roofing projects.
New Jersey uncovered widespread circumvention
of competitive bidding on roofing projects.
California found millions of taxpayer dollars
being wasted and revised procurement laws, and Texas estimated taxpayers were
being overbilled an estimated $1.3 million per year.
Similar investigations have uncovered fraud
and abuse in Indiana, Massachusetts, Virginia and other states.
Pennsylvania is one of 23 states that come
under the cooperative roofing umbrella of AEPA, which funnels roofing projects
through Tremco, a national roofing contractor.
The suit charged that RPM defrauded the
General Services Administration and other government entities by overcharging
on roofing contracts as far back as 2002.
Slippery Rock School District brought a
defective materials suit against Weather Technologies, a Tremco company that
sold material to the district through AEPA co-operative purchasing
company. Dozens of school districts in the state have bought roofs
through Tremco.
The Commonwealth's procurement code allows for
cooperative group purchasing. Like codes in other states, this is great for the
purchase of pencils or computers. But construction projects are not
commodities.
Cooperative purchasing permits for roofing
have been exposed around the U.S. as end-runs around the competitive bidding
process that hand business directly to favored vendors.
There is no logic in a process in which the
manufacturer acts as the designer, general contractor, and installer.
Cooperative purchasing of roofing services circumvents accountability for
quality workmanship and snubs its nose at best practices. In many states, the
process also violates the requirement of having third-party design
professionals review projects.
We need a system of checks and balances for
school roof projects in Pennsylvania.
Fortunately,
a bill will be submitted to fix this expensive overspending
problem soon. State Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre, is currently seeking co-sponsors for his proposal.
I call on taxpayers, school administrators and
elected officials in the Commonwealth to support this bill, so we can put an
end to a gross and unnecessary waste of taxpayer money.
Robert Dziuban is executive director at Coalition for Procurement
Reform, Reston, Va.
We are on the right side of this argument, and know the Purchasing Cooperative "darlings" (Tremco, Garland, Simon) cannot offer a rebuttal. Can't do it, and I've got $10,000.00 of my own money that says so. All they have to do is meet me in a televised public debate. Ten years, no takers. Why would a multi-billion dollar firm be afraid to shut me up? Money goes to a school of my choice by the way.
I have nothing but contempt for the ones who use their 'Predatory Sales Model" to steal taxpayer money. Think of me the next time your children are asked to purchase basic school supplies because the school has no money.
Friends, PLEASE offer a voluntary alternate before walking away.The number will be about 40% less than the cooperative and ONE manufacturer. This will illustrate how the bid pool substantially increases, and the material will be purchased through any LOCAL roofing distributor. In this way, the district retains approximately 70% of local tax dollars. Money that could be used for additional roofing, or maintenance.
I will help anyone who needs help.
RobertRSolomon@aol.com
NOTE: Retired 2003, do not solicit, nor accept compensation, or personal advancement of any kind.
Thank you for spending precious time with me here, and know how appreciative I am.
Reject negativity in all forms, and always remember to keep looking "UP".
Respect.
Robert R. Solomon
Public Procurement Analyst
State Certified CCC1325620
Licensed Consultant
Tampa, Florida
