MEMORANDUM
December 8, 2008
To: Mr. David Corliss, City Manager
Ms. Cynthia Boecker, Assistant City Manager
Ms. Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager
Mr. Alan Landis, Finance / Purchasing
From: W. Ronald Olin, Chief of Police
Ref: 2009 ITC Janitor Bids –
December 16, 2008, Agenda Item
Please include the following item on the City Commission consent agenda for consideration at the December 16, 2008, meeting:
Bid for Janitor Service for the Lawrence Police Department Investigations and Training Center, 4820 Bob Billings Parkway.
Bids for Janitorial and Custodial Services for the Investigations and Training Center have been received and are included within this document, listed as Vendor/location, at cost per month, the total yearly cost and the percent of increase for second year service. With all factors being carefully considered, I recommend accepting the bid from Smart Building Services, our current cleaning service. The new agreement is scheduled to begin on January 2, 2009.
Bid History
Nine cleaning companies attended the mandatory bid meeting at the ITC on November 18. Requests were sent to the City’s list of vendors for this service and the notice was posted on the Onvia DemandStar website. Three of those companies who attended the meeting were rejected prior to the bid opening on December 2, for failing to comply with bid requirements and not supplying lists of references at the meeting. As is stated in our bid packet, “Discrepancies found during background checks / interviews may eliminate the bidder from consideration regardless of other factors including being the low bid or lower bid.” As is also stated on the bid proposal form, “The bidder understands that the contract will be awarded based on the total amount of the bid and/or previous experience with departments within the City of Lawrence.” With all factors under careful consideration: selection of a local company with a proven track record; with previous responsible and responsive service; with a company and crew who pass the background investigations, Smart Building Services is the clear choice.
The Lawrence Police Department renovated and occupied the Investigations and Training Center in the winter of 2000 and spring of 2001. During that time, over eight years, the department has employed five different Janitorial companies two of those from out of town vendors. Poor service, unresponsive owners, failure to “live up to” contractual agreements and lack of attention to detail led to this unusual and unacceptable turnover.
As further evidence to past performance by companies / owners / quality control representatives / cleaners, we have had items missing from product inventories; unprofessional conduct including a male cleaner repeatedly walking into occupied female restrooms; failure of the cleaner to show up leaving ITC personnel to make calls to the company which were not answered, returned; cleaners who show up with only an hour to try and complete 3 – 4 hours worth of work; cleaners bringing family with them to help who have not been cleared through the mandatory background process; owners refusing to make weekly mandatory inspections; cleaners who created more a cleaning problem such as soiled / permanently stained carpets, spilled cleaning supplies, broken equipment not reported; cleaners who have removed ITC employees food / beverages; cleaners who have sought to entertain professional police courtesies; cleaners who have sought personal relationships with employees. These are a few incidents we have had to address with past janitorial services, all who were awarded the bid based primarily on the lowest price quoted.
Preliminary phone calls to listed references provided mixed results. Some references gave some owners / cleaners good marks while others were non-committal, especially when it came to discussing stringent preset-standards / guidelines such as the Police Department requires. Due to past poor performance, several years ago the LPD adopted a daily check list of duties for the cleaner on duty. These include specific tasks in specific locations on specific days. Only a few of the references we talked to utilized such a comprehensive check list. Most only required simple tasks of the cleaners or the same duties each day. Most also only required a monthly walk-through by a quality control person or owner, but they also admitted that often those were not honored or made to be held accountable for.
The cleaning responsibilities at the Investigations and Training Center are a day-service job. Most of the references we talked to either had late afternoon/evening or after-hours cleaning or a combination of the two. Several references said they rarely saw / talked to their cleaner(s). One such out of town company the Lawrence Police Department used several years ago routinely employed non-residents which became an issue when they sought to hire a local individual to clean the ITC.
The Investigations and Training Center must retain the highest possible standards to protect our personnel, our facilities and our law enforcement equipment. Given the nature of the majority of individuals who visit the ITC, (e.g. / suspects / witnesses / victims) and the range of physical / emotional / mental condition of some of those citizens, it is imperative to depend upon cleaning personnel who are able to adapt to these requirements and conditions.
The formal background investigation process which is begun after the award of the bid is extremely important. It is also consuming, intrusive and requires the assistance of several police employees and the Douglas County Emergency Communications Center. Awarding this bid to yet another cleaning service will take at least seven to 10 days to complete, with no guarantee that the owner, daily cleaner(s), back up cleaner(s), and quality control inspector could be passed through the process and accepted before the new agreement is slated to go into effect on January 2, 2009. It should be noted that with all of the cleaning companies the Lawrence Police Department has utilized in the past eight years, the pool of those individuals who do pass the full background are about one in six of the names submitted. Those background checks have revealed misdemeanors and felony crimes from local and regional jurisdictions. We have not, and can not allow “questionable” janitors into the facility, especially with the kind of access required to complete their tasks, while maintaining the integrity of our security, file access and proximity to confidential law enforcement equipment and Law Enforcement Criminal History Information.
Past Janitorial Service Companies at the ITC in order of their service
Master Plan Management – Lawrence based
Satellite Janitorial – Kansas City based
Bob’s Janitorial – Topeka / Lawrence based
Service Master – Lawrence based
Smart Building Services – Lawrence based
Bid Status
The submitted bids were carefully reviewed to determine the best of all options in regards to the Department’s specifications including past performance, responsiveness, ability to be available for call back and fulfilling bid requirements.
Bid Details
Included below in order of company and where they are based, bid amount, percent of yearly increase.
Bid Funding
The bid award will be funded from the 2009 Police Department fund 001 2110 561 3353.
Action Request
The Police Department requests approval from the City Commission to authorize the City Manager to award the bid for Janitorial Services at the Investigations and Training Center to Smart Building Services.
Crystal Clear Enterprise, Inc. $1,481.05 month $17,772.60 year 0%
(Grandview, MO)
Service Master $1,519.33 $18,232 0%
(Lawrence)
Bob’s Janitorial $1,545.25 $18,543 2.5%
(Topeka / Lawrence)
Jani King $1,625.00 $19,500 5%
(Lenexa)
ISS Cardinal $1,638.75 $19,665 5%
(Topeka)
Smart Building Services $1,657.66 $19,892 3%
(Lawrence)