Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Worcester County FY10 Fire Hydrant Project


Dear Sir,

A friend of yours suggested that the following information be forwarded to you.
enclosed correspondence to Worcester County. This bonded project is to be awarded to a Churchville, Maryland contractor.MARCOR a local 25 year contractor was low bid and the commissioners position is not supported. They had not all the facts!

Marcor is as qualified as the other contractor,but the county would rather spend an additional $248,809.00 dollars for a " BONDED PROJECT".In addition 20 local workers would be on the payroll and spend there money locality.With your support, I feel that the tax payers should have knowledge of TAX DOLLARS at work.Someone is going to pay these additional costs.

Also I feel that the commissioners did not have all the facts.This project was approved on February 16,2010 at the last meeting?Marcor had no prior knowledge of this meeting to answer and support our bid.The information provided will support
that not all the facts have been considered as presented to the commissioners.

Thank for your service to the community,

Richard E. Moore

Editors Note: The author of this message did in fact provide the documents mentioned but there were far too many for me to post.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Marcor has an office in Salisbury too, which I suggest means it will use local workers. Also, you must use a bonded contractor for this type of work. If you don't, you are taking a great risk that the work will be completed...

Anonymous said...

they don't care about local workers, never have. try losing a bid to convict labor and see how that feels. honest, hard working people have no work but convicted criminals do.

Anonymous said...

So why isn't Marcor bonded?
It's not hard to get bonded.

Anonymous said...

Local workers, whats that mean? It just keeps getting more ridulicous piece by piece.

Anonymous said...

Did Marcor include a bid bond with their bid? If not, why?

Anonymous said...

It costs money to put up a bond for a job, and that increases costs. Also, companies can only have so much bond out at any given time, and people hold punch lists and final releases because other contractors are behind. Not being able to bond the next job can cause a good company to walk away.

Anonymous said...

Local workers means workers that live in this area and support you local businesses and pay taxes here. This seems to be happening alot. A company for another state or across the bridge comes in and gets these jobs and brings their own workforce with them. There are so many in this area out of work we should be taking care of our OWN.

Anonymous said...

Was it a performance bond or payment bond or both? They are needed in a project this size.

Anonymous said...

With his comment of "Marcor had no prior knowledge of this meeting to answer and support OUR bid." it leads me to think that he is just upset that HIS company under bid the project and still lost out due to not being qualified to perform the job.
Mr. Moore stick to placing fire hydrants in private communities where your bonded status does not matter. Gov't contracts are for the pros.

Anonymous said...

This article is very poorly written and confusing. I think the author is saying that Marcor did not get the contract, but a company from Churchville, Md. got it.

Anonymous said...

ok so is Marcor bonded? if they are not then they should not have gotten it, and if they were gonna get bonded then their price would go up. maybe the county went with who they thought was best for job. when i get bids on stuff around my house i dont always go with lowest bidder i go with who i feel will do better job.

Anonymous said...

maybe all facts need to be put out there before people make judgements

Anonymous said...

I support local contractors 100% percent but a bid bond is required to be provided with every bid. Every bidder should have included the cost of a bond in their bid so no one should have an advantage. If they did not provide a bond with their bid then it should have been thrown out.

Good Job Worcester County

Anonymous said...

Now are they really concerned about Worcester County tax payers and local workers or the fact they lost a large job?

Anonymous said...

Marcor is a very reputable contractor that bonding would not be a problem. Also Mr Moore is a man that has been in the construction business for numerous years and his reputation and knowledge of the business is unquestionable. The problem is Mr Moore or Marcor are not in the with the good old boys. Bid or no bid they pick who they want. Works the same all over. Ever see anybody but American Paving (Whose parent company is D. Bramble in Chestertown) get any of the county or state work.

Anonymous said...

Counties always go with lowest bidders! Maybe there is another reason they did not go with Morcor.

Anonymous said...

Lets take a look at SU they are hiring GC's that pull outside contractors from across the bridge and out of state subcontractors and the heck with the local guys?

Bobby Bramble said...

3:38 To say that American Paving obtains county or state work because they are in with the "good old boys" is absurd. All state and county projects are advertised and the bids are opened and publicly read aloud.

Why does it matter if American Paving is owned by David A. Bramble? Marcor is an International Company but we both hire locals.

-employee of American Paving

Anonymous said...

There is no reason why Marcor should not be bonded. Every contractor who bids jobs knows they should be bonded.
It's part of doing business and it protects the customer (regular individual, business or government) from getting ripped off by the contractor.
I can tell you if a contractor does work for me on my home, they MUST be bonded. Period!
More people should require it and then so many wouldn't get ripped off.
The job would get finished or the bond would make sure it got finished even if it was by another contractor.

ranger3325 said...

I work for a local electrical contracter who has plenty of work with marcor ,much of it on bonded jobs and they are a very proffessnal company who do a lot of work for the state and the counties ,they hire good men who are a credit to the SHORE there is more to this story we dont know.

Chimera said...

Some companies (not Marcor,just an example)wont get bonded because they would have no workforce!They would no longer be able to employ people with criminal records or questionable backgrounds.Seriously.Look at all the sex offenders employed at some local companies-think any insurance company in their right mind is going to cover these folks?Would you use your own resoruces to vouch for someone who has a theft conviction?They are a potential risk.Thats why aot of companies arent "bonded".

Anonymous said...

If a bond is required in the plans and specifications that were put out for bid, and a contractor does not obtain the bond, that company is disqualified from the bid plain and simple. I don't care if Mr. Moore is a reputable contractor. It doesn't matter. It doesn't have anything to do with a good ole boy network. If Marcor was awarded the bid, the other companies could have sued Worcester county. The competative bidding process is to make an equal playing field. Everyone bids on the same things, there are no suprises. I don't understand what Marcors gripe is. They didn't bid on what was required. If the project is attatched to any Federal or State money, a performance bond is required. (they don't care if the company promises to complete the job, and to do it according to the plans) These bonds protect the county, the taxpayers, as well as any subcontractors or vendors.

Anonymous said...

Actually I'm sitting here with someone in the know.

They are telling me that this local company leaves job sites a mess, do not finish jobs and had very poor references.

Perhaps they should look "inside thier company" before complaining about why they didn't get the job.

Anonymous said...

The county is fiscally obligated to get bonded contractors. If you didn't understand that from the bid documents, that's on you. Several years ago the county made a CHOICE to give first priority to local GCs who could prove x amount of the workforce was local. That increases our tax base. That provides more county services. I don't have a problem with that. I think it's similar to buying a Ford instead of buying a Toyota. In the end, the money stays here.

Anonymous said...

American Paving is a great company with great employees that is why they get work! They know how to bid and then follow through! The Bramble Company has made it even better!

Anonymous said...

7:05 Thanks for the explanation, the funding source required the bonding. No further comments needed

Richard Moore said...

For clarification purposes only MARCOR is bonded for this project.