Hendry County commissioners reject single bid for Clewiston ship homes, authorize rebid

Chairperson Emma Bird and the Hendry County Board of County Commissioners on March 11 voted to reject the lone bid received for an invitation to bid described in the packet as the "5 ship homes in Clewiston" and authorized staff to readvertise the procurement.

Emily Hunter, the county's community relations and legislative director, told the board the single submission "did not have the adequate quote information," and recommended rejecting that bid and re-advertising to solicit additional proposals. "We're requesting that you reject the bid and allow us to readvertise in hopes of soliciting some more bids as well," Hunter said.

Commissioner Emery Howard moved to follow staff's recommendation; Commissioner Michael Atkinson seconded the motion. The chair called for the vote and the motion carried.

Hunter told commissioners she has not previously seen a single-bid situation for this program while she has overseen it, and that past problems usually involved bids submitted improperly rather than a lack of bidders. Commissioners discussed one late bid noted in the procurement and asked whether increasing contract thresholds might attract more bidders; Hunter said staff is not opposed to raising thresholds but prefers to rebid first and consider increases only if low response repeats.

The board did not adopt any immediate change to procurement thresholds. The action taken was limited to rejecting the single bid and authorizing a readvertisement; no contract award was made.