Cyberactive's contract didn?t get approved ?not because I wasn?t good, not because I wasn?t cheap, but because Luther complained." - Sharon Naim
A California company is protesting the Baton Rouge Metro Council?s decision not to award it -- or anyone else -- a contract to provide online driving courses for the city-parish.
Last Wednesday, the council couldn?t get enough votes to select a company that would provide the program. Some council members wanted the contract to go to a local company, Angelwood Driving School, but the city-parish attorney had recommended the California company, Cyberactive.
Now, the possibility of having an online driving course for the parish remains in limbo. The program would have provided a way for parish drivers who get a ticket to take online courses to keep moving violations off their records.
Sharon Naim, CEO of Santa Monica, Calf.-based Cyberactive, said she?s frustrated her company?s proposal wasn?t approved after it won the request for proposal process and was recommended to the council. Naim sent a letter of protest to the city-parish on Wednesday. She said she?s hired a lawyer and will take the issue to court if not awarded the contract.
Donald Luther, the founder of local company, Angelwood, spoke at the council meeting, telling members he originally proposed the idea of an online driving course to the city-parish.
Naim said she feels her company?s contract didn?t get approved ?not because I wasn?t good, not because I wasn?t cheap, but because Luther complained.?
The Metro Council's decision not to award Cyberactive the contract "makes a mockery of the whole RFP process," she said.
There have not yet been any moves to go out for another request for proposals or bring the subject back up at a council meeting, said City-Parish Attorney Mary Roper.
?No decisions have been made as to what the next thing would be at this point,? Roper said. ?We?re reviewing the information that Cyberactive is sending. They?ve sent a letter of protest, so we?re reviewing that and we?ll just see where that goes.?
Luther could not be reached for comment for this story. At the council meeting, he told members that his company was already working with the Baton Rouge City Court to provide some online driving courses there, as one of a judge?s options for sentencing. He said he had been talking for years about expanding the courses offered in the parish, and the city-parish ?actively sought out out-of-state competitors? when it issued a request for proposals and asked companies to apply.
Councilman John Delgado, one of three council members who voted to give the contract to Angelwood, said the city should show preference to local bidders. Local companies, he said, can immediately respond, in person, to any concerns or problems the city-parish might have.
?Only one of the (four companies that applied) employs Baton Rouge, Louisiana citizens,? Delgado said. ?Only one of them pays taxes, owns property, participates in our community and civic affairs, and that was Angelwood.?
Naim contends that she said in her application that she would move as much as her businesses as possible to Baton Rouge and Louisiana. She said she was planning to open a Baton Rouge office if she were selected, and was already searching for office space for a local staff of about 15 to 20 people.
?My company was going to have a larger impact on Louisiana,? she said. ?Not only did I say I'd bring part of my local business there, I said I'd bring part of my national business there.?
Cyberactive was recommended by the city-parish attorney in large part because it offered a lower price than Angelwood. The committee that evaluated the applications used a scoring system that gave 50 percent of the points for the technical qualifications of the company, and 50 percent for the program?s cost.
Angelwood would have charged drivers about $75 each, in addition to $118 in court fees, Roper told the council. Cyberactive would have only charged $15 to keep for themselves, in addition to the court fees, Roper said.
Luther told the council that he had set Angelwood?s prices "artificially high" because officials with the city court had told him that's how much the online courses should cost. He said he was willing to negotiate.
Council member Trae Welch, who made the motion to award the contract to Angelwood, said the city-parish?s application process had been ?busted from the beginning? and focused too much on cost.
This application should have been different, for example, from a bidding process where the city-parish is looking for a piece of construction equipment and wants the lowest bid, Welch said. In that case, the cost is the more important factor because at the end, the city-parish gets the same equipment.
This contract should have been treated more like a contract the city-parish uses when it?s looking to hire an outside lawyer, Welch said. It should have focused more on whose proposal would be best for the city-parish, rather than cost. Negotiating the price could come later, he added.
?Cheapest is not necessarily the best,? Welch said.
Both Welch and Delgado said they know Luther well, but that didn?t play into their decision to advocate for his bid. Campaign finance records do not show Luther gave any money to either of their city council campaigns.
?If you can?t do this job (of being an elected official) without telling people ?no? that are friends of yours, you have no business doing this job,? Welch said.
Source: http://www.nola.com/business/baton-rouge/index.ssf/2013/08/baton_rouge_online_driving_cou.html
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