Commissioners award janitorial supply contracts to local bidders with contingencies for nonresponsive items

Wichita County named local vendors as primary sources for janitorial supplies on Jan. 7 and reserved the right to add secondary suppliers where primary bidders did not submit quotes.

Commissioner Beauchamp moved, and Commissioner Fincannon seconded, a proposal to designate Empire Paper, Mayfield Paper and Wagner as the primary, secondary and tertiary vendors, respectively, with the lowest-price bidder on each line item serving as the primary supplier. For items where those three did not all submit bids, the court authorized adding Pollock (and UniPACK where appropriate) as a secondary or tertiary vendor. The motion passed 5-0.

Procurement staff Tana told the court she had prepared a spreadsheet with every line-item bid and noted some vendors could not guarantee quoted pricing for a full 12 months. She said Pollock’s quotes included a time cap on price guarantees; the company would try to supply comparable alternatives but could not promise year-round pricing. Staff recommended picking local suppliers with local warehouses when possible to ensure availability.

Commissioners asked about several specific items: Mayfield had supplied programmable deodorizer dispensers during a previous installation and could provide compatible refill cans, and staff confirmed the dispensers were not proprietary; other items such as bulk trash can liners carried varying vendor capacity. The court directed staff to implement the three-tier vendor list by price per item and to include Pollock as a secondary source only for items where the primary three had not bid or could not guarantee supply.

The move is intended to secure local inventory and pricing while retaining fallback options for items with limited bids.