Bidding Laws Save Money

“Force account work” means public works construction done by a government agency with their own workers. It is illegal in most areas of California for a city or county to do a job bigger than $10,000 unless it is an emergency. For example, Ventura County Flood Control District’s limit is $10,000 and the county waterworks districts have a $3,500 limit. Jobs larger than these limits must be competitively bid and given to the lowest responsible and qualified bidder.

Force account laws are designed to save money. The idea is that private contractors are more cost-efficient than government. If a contractor is not efficient, he is quickly out of business. If the government is not efficient, however, our taxes get raised.

Recently, we have had two good examples of why force account limits are necessary. Stan Wyatt, in his letter to the editor several months ago, told how he had asked the County Flood Control District to let him clean out a debris basin for nothing. The county instead spent $50,000 doing it themselves. This job should have been competitively bid.

Last month, in the middle of the Moorpark Freeway project being built by a private contractor, our county waterworks district spent the better part of a week and at least $20,000 installing new valves and pipes for future needs. The day I observed their crew, they had five men, three crew trucks, two dump trucks, a backhoe and trailer, an air compressor and other assorted equipment--all to work in a hole no bigger than 10 feet square.

This is work that the freeway contractor had asked to bid. The county said they wanted to do it themselves, as their people were looking for things to do.

In these times of budget deficits, our government bodies should obey the force account limit laws. They would save large sums of money in the process. Isn’t that the idea nowadays?

STEVE BLOIS

Member, Ventura County

Contractors Assn.

Ventura