A direct approach to my specialty, and audience. "Public Roofing Oversight".

Friends:

In the 7 years I've spent with you here, have made great progress for "Fair Competition" in the bidding process for publicly funded projects.  I am of the opinion that you have a right to compete for your own tax dollars, and not be ruled by government "mandates".

The government has a method of choosing "Winners', and "Losers", and this comes in the form of "Purchasing Cooperatives".  Surprised?  "Ron, I thought Purchasing Cooperatives "Save you money because they buy in bulk",  Or, "Our vast negotiating power saves you money".  Both are false, and I can prove it to you through public record, and common sense.

Let us establish that if you are not competitive in the private market, you are not competitive in the public market.  Fair enough?

Purchasing Cooperatives are essentially "Commissioned Salesmen", and have absolutely NO incentive to compete.  In fact, the more something costs, the more commission (typically 2% of the contract amount) they make.

The Cooperative obfuscates the truth through methods of bidding that are impossible to calculate.  One method is "Line Item" bidding, where the bidders fill out many pages of highly detailed individual items.  Then, they cherry pick ONE of those "Line Items" favorable to their "Preferred Vendor".  Voila!, mission accomplished.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to estimate a roof, and provide a hard bid through "Line Items", and not one estimator in any country will refute that statement.  

ROOFING is the costliest item of any school maintenance budget.  ROOFING is also the ONLY TRADE Purchasing Cooperatives" offer.  Is it starting to add up for you?  If they tried this with any other trade (HVAC, Plumbing, Electrician, etc.) they would RIOT!

Roofs purchased through Cooperatives cost an average of 40% MORE than by a "Mainstream Manufacturers (GAF, Firestone, Johns Manville, Carlisle, Barrett, etc)  and local roof consultant. 

The two primary culprits of this deception are Tremco AKA Waterproofing Technologies, and Republic Powdered Metals RPM.  The other is Garland Ind. and their metals division IMETCO.

For the sake of discussion will call them Tremco, and Garland.  Private owners do not use them because they are grotesquely overpriced, and average roofs at best.  It is a complete SCAM.

Please don't take my word for it, and type "School Roofing Scam" into your browser.  Then, do the same thing on YouTube.  You will find no shortage of investigative reports on them there.

Friends, every word I say is backed by public record, and I do not share "Opinions".

Tremco was fined $61,000,000.00 by the DOJ for abusing GSA contracts.  The schools they defrauded got NOTHING.

Tremco, and their attorney are now being sued by the SEC who are insisting on a jury trial. 

See:  http://www.durabilityanddesign.com/news/?fuseaction=view&id=15485 

See:  https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2016/comp23639.pdf 

For Garland:  (State of New Jersey Commission of Investigation): 
http://www.state.nj.us/sci/pdf/Roofing_Report.pdf   

U.S. Communities illustrates the problem in a big way here:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/US-Communities-Government-Purchasing-Alliance/nationwide/Cooperative-Government-Purchasing-US-Communities-the-truth-behind-a-national-scam-All-478352

Cooperative Government Purchasing - U.S. Communities the truth behind a national scam! All States, Counties And Cities: Nationwide

Garland is the "Preferred Vendor" of U.S Communities (another fraud), and pays a 5% "Commission" to the County Commission of Cobb County, Georgia.  As a result, this "Lie" is spread throughout the USA.   

Salesmen" talk administrators into believing this lie, and expose them to great public scrutiny,  They also decimate school maintenance budgets.  NEVER is it okay to call out one manufacturer on a public project.  That is collusion, and bid rigging.  That "Salesman" is getting a 25% "Commission" for misleading you, and cares not about your career as an administrator.

Since we're talking about "Commissions", let's add up what the public is getting for their money.  Cooperative gets 2%, Salesman gets 25%, so your tax dollar just turned into 73 cents and nothing to show for it.  Mainstream manufacturers do not pay commissions to salesmen to "get over" on you.

If Tremco, and Garland, were so "Competitive", why doesn't WalMart, Target, or any other retailer use them?  Because they're not stupid, and using their own money, that's why.

U.S. Communities shills for Garland, and TCPN shills for Tremco.  Completely absent moral, decency, or care for the schools, and taxpayers they defraud.  These purchasing cooperatives actually have seminars on hot to avoid "competitive bidding'.  I find it disgraceful, and you should too.

If you don't value our schools, the taxpayers, and their children, you should at least value your job, and freedom,  I've been through this many, many times, and seen the damage it does.  We will continue the discussion in my next post where I will provide links, and break down their "sales points" into plain English.

I am very thankful for the time you spend with me here, and happy to revise any statements I've made that are factually incorrect.  I can't argue your "emotion", but I can argue  "fact".

The next post will be a real "scorcher", so please stand by.

NOTE: Retired 2003, do not solicit nor accept compensation or personal advancement of any kind.

Reject negativity in all forms, and always remember to keep looking "UP"

Respect.

Robert R. Solomon
Director, Roof Consultant's Alliance
Public Procurement Analyst
CCC 1325620
RobertRSolomon@aol.com