Two Difficult Lessons Learned by a Firing Range When Selecting the Lowest Bid-Price Lead Reclamation Contractor Without Considering the “Best-Value” Evaluation Criteria.

The following article will highlight lessons learned including how to select the bid from a lead reclamation contractor that makes the most economical sense for your range, and how to make sure the contractor is prepared to handle your project without disrupting your range operations.

In a recent news story, it was reported that the New Jersey Bergen County Office of Environmental Health & the Department of Environmental Protection responded to reports that lead-contaminated sand was being improperly stored at a NJ gun range that police from across the county use for shooting practice and firearm qualifications. According to the news report, the county has faced federal scrutiny before due to its mishandling of hazardous material.

At MT2, we are the most cost-effective nationwide indoor & outdoor firing range contractor who provides the highest value for recycled lead. We work with thousands of firing range owners and managers who are conscientious and diligent to keep their range up to date on lead reclamation and maintenance. For ranges looking for help removing the lead from their range, there are important considerations that must be considered before selecting a bid from a contractor.

As consumers, we are conditioned to find the best “deal” on our major purchases, in fact, there’s a multitude of apps for your phone that allow you to scan a barcode in and compare pricing even for super-small items!

So, when it comes to getting bids for having your firing range lead removed & remediated, the temptation is to follow the exact same methodology. But, while this approach may win you some bonus points with your superiors for getting the lowest price, you may be opening your range up for quite a negative experience!

What is Best Value Procurement?

The Best-Value Procurement Manual from a typical State DOT Office of Construction and Innovative Contracting (OCIC) says: “A procurement process where price and other key factors can be considered in the evaluation and selection process to minimize impacts and enhance the long-term performance and value. Traditionally, price has been the sole factor considered in selection of contractors. Best-value procurement allows other factors, such as qualifications, schedule, quality, and performance-based criteria, to be used in evaluation and selection.”

In fact, some State Legislatures enacted a law that enables public agencies to select contractors based on best value, rather than low bid. The law applies to state agencies, cities, counties, and school districts!

Recently, we received word back on a firing range bid proposal that we were not awarded the contract…we realize we cannot win every bid we submit, but our win-rate is extremely high, and this one caught our attention because our bid was only slightly higher.

LOW PRICE SOMETIMES MEANS LOW SERVICE.

Understanding the full extent of the work needed to properly get the lead out of the range, we knew that the contractor selected must have won the bid solely on being the lowest price.

Rarely do we ever hear back from a gun range on a bid we lost, but in this case, we happened to re-connect with them, and what we heard and will describe in this article, clearly makes an open-and-shut case that selecting the lowest bid price lead reclamation contractor with less experience and quality WITHOUT considering the “Best-Value Evaluation Criteria” is a recipe for disaster!

Following is a transcript of a report from one of our project managers who spoke to the Point of Contact (POC) at the range:

“As of 7/20 around 10 am, I spoke to the POC on site. Upon introducing myself, he exploded in laughter! Things are not going well at the range, he said that xxxxxxxx hadn’t even completed 1 bay yet. (1 bay is 10 positions) I asked him to clarify and he said they hadn’t pulled down all the rubber yet or even begun to process the rubber yet. At that point xxxxxxxx had been on site 3 and 1/4 days. He asked about containment zones and wearing PPE. (he was signaling that xxxxxxxx wasn’t wearing PPE in the Hot Zone.) He said that things were going so poorly for xxxxxxxx that they picked up 3 “day laborers” to assist on the job (presumably violating the contractual terms of prevailing wage rates). Deputy Pxxxxxxxx sounded demoralized! Deputy Pxxxxxxxx is saying they absolutely need the range to be up and serviceable by Sunday, and that the failures to this point include:

Lack of safety and lead-control practices placing the range at risk.
Insufficient labor resources extending down-time on the range.
Improperly maintained and supplied equipment resulting in more down time for the range

His comments to me were, ‘seeing their price-point, and now their service, I can see that they have no idea what they are doing.’”

We here at MT2 do NOT feel this is a “laughing matter.” It is sad.

What would you do if:

Regulators showed up at your range to inspect potential hazardous waste? Would you have the proper documentation to show them?
The low-priced option selected for your lead reclamation turned out to be DOUBLE the cost & DOUBLE the downtime for your range?

You have 3 options:

Option 1: Do Nothing or try DIY…but look at how that worked out for Bergen County!

Option 2: Choose a low-price, low-value contractor and watch them attempt to piece together your project…that may turn out to be quite an ORDEAL in cost overruns and downtime for your range!

Option 3: Work with MT2-the #1 Largest Most Cost-Effective Nationwide Indoor & Outdoor Firing Range Lead Reclamation & Maintenance Contractor Providing the Highest Value for Your Recycled Lead.

We have invested millions of dollars in developing proprietary systems and we own the industry’s largest national fleet of specialized equipment available for separating and processing soil, firing range bullets and lead shot which gives us a considerable advantage in providing substantial cost and schedule savings to our clients. We carry $10,000,000 of General AND Lead Pollution Liability as well as Worker’s Comp Insurance with the range named as additionally insured! Our zero-tolerance for regulatory violations gives range owners the peace of mind that their project will be successfully completed on a guaranteed schedule.

Downtime for your range is a loss of revenue for you. No one can complete your project quicker than MT2!