Travis County Commissioners Court
May 31, 2005
Item 16
16. Authorize the purchasing agent to commence negotiations with the highest ranked proposer on rfp no. P050037-bf, purchase of helicopters for Travis County.
>> good morning.
>> good morning.
>> I’m bonnie floyd with the purchasing office. A propose was -- a request for proposal was issued on January 31st for the purchase of two star flight helicopters, e.m.s. Equipped helicopters. We received two proposals on March 1st, one from bell and one from euro, american euro copter. The evaluation committee has evaluated both aircraft and -- actually seen both aircraft. After that extensive evaluation, euro adopt ter has turned out by far -- copter has turned out to be by far the better proposal. We are here to ask to commence negotiations.
>> when we ask the purchasing office to commence negotiations, that means and other county departments.
>> yes, sir.
>> one little thing that's different about this, the initial bids came in much higher than anticipated. So authorization to negotiate is not authorization to enter into a contract. It is to go out and try to get the best deal, come back to the court.
>> yes, sir.
>> let us know the situation at the appropriate time.
>> yes, sir. We did ask for a revised proposal, we received those responses last Friday. And the price has come down considerably with euro copter.
>> okay.
>> we also had an item, I guess it was last week, related to the night goggles, was that on this week?
>> today.
>> I didn't think about that. It was actually going to be cheaper to go through our own purchasing process and go directly through the night goggle people as opposed to getting it as an add-on. Those savings will be hopeful in engineering -- will be helpful in kind of engineering this thing down to where we need to be.
>> move approval.
>> second.
>> can I ask a question?
>> discussion, Commissioner Daugherty?
>> so willie and -- and k.c., are we convinced that euro copter is -- are the guys to go with, considering the euro copter has we now have has had some fairly considerable issues, even though I think the majority of them were picked up by euro copter, all of the different things that you talk about helicopters, is -- do you think that we have an understanding that we are not going to find ourselves in the same situation with euro copter, equipment-wise, machinery, included? Because it frightened the heck out of me, whenever you all started bringing us all of the things that can go on, I realize that these are high performance, you know, pieces of machinery, but boy it's scary to get into something with these folks that seem to think would have had that down before they go out on the market and start selling, you know, four and five million dollar pieces of machinery.
>> oh, yes, Commissioner, we are making every effort to make sure that doesn't occur again. The biggest difference is that the aircraft that we are looking at purchasing on this one is a much more mature aircraft. It's been in service with the e.m.s. Industry for quite a number of years. As opposed to the ec 135. We had the 51st an 52nd ec 135 built. So the very new type of design, new type of frame on that purchase. That led to some of the problems that was unforeseen because the aircraft had not been proven at the time of purchase because it was relatively new in the market. That is not the case this time. We also as part of our negotiations is to get the protection that we need built into this contract.
>> yeah, well, that's the biggest thing then, just making sure that we do have an understanding, a legal -- that we have something binding if something really odd happens and continues to happen, which I guess is the thing that -- what was it, the rotary? The thing that they had to continue to replace?
>> it was two items main, mainly the main rotor blades, in the process of sealing their blades there was -- they allowed them to get water into the blades, which caused an off balance condition. The second was the engine [indiscernible] filters, both of them have been addressed. The rotor blades will not be a problem because it's a totally different design of the rotor blade. We are adding that as part of the contract negotiations.
>> since I’m going up on those things on June the 8th, I think those things are running properly, are they not?
>> they are running excellent. We used them quite a bit over memorial day weekend, first on a fire that lasted all Friday afternoon as well as several missions through the rest of the weekend.
>> star flight saved our butts related to a fire that could have gotten completely out of control, right on the verge of all of our habitat, we would have turned warbler habitat into vireo habitat starting over. Did an incredible job of containing a fire, huge.
>> anything else on this item?
>> yes.
>> an additional comment in relation to Commissioner Daugherty's question, as part of the negotiations, this -- part of what we are needing to get is under development now. In order to tie down in our negotiations a delivery time, and final price, euro adopt ter is asking us to -- adopt ter is -- copter is asking us to send them a letter of intent. They send us a requested verbage. I backed that back a lot. Theirs sounded like we are definitely going to purchase, it's just a question of getting to an agreement. This one I hope sounds a lot more like if we can get to agreement, then we are definitely going to purchase from you. But we are not definitely going to purchase. And it doesn't go quite that far in saying it that way but that's supposed to be the intent of what's there. And before we would sent out such a letter, of course, we would want the court's authorization to do that.
>> so do you -- who do you propose this letter come from?
>> if the court wants to -- wants to be the one that signs it, fine, if the court wants to direct the purchasing send it and sign it, that's fine, too. I don't think it matters to euro copter which one as long as there's court approval to send it. If you want the court to sign it, I will get the appropriate letterhead and have it to you for your signature package today.
>> I don't want one way or the other. I just want us to put it in the motion whatever we do. I would hate for it to come from purchasing if it's simpler than -- that way is fine with me.
>> okay. [multiple voices]
>> included in the amendment, and the motion, rather, is an appropriate letter of intent come from Travis County by way of the purchasing agent to american euro copter llc.
>> friendly to the second.
>> any more discussion? Anything else we need to know today? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Thank you all very much.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, June 1, 2005 9:29 AM