Bid Protest of County Administrator's Decision – Safe Air Corporation - Award to Rossman Enterprises Inc. d.b.a. MagneGrip Corporation of Bid No. IFB- KEM-24-038 for Direct Source Diesel Exhaust Capture System for Fire Stations - No Funding Required

1:03:41So we'll do Thirty seven. R 37.

1:03:45Yes, sir. Good morning. Carrie Roberts, Purchasing Director for the County. We're here to talk about R 37, the bid protest of the County Administrator decision for Safe Air Corporation, award to Rossman Enterprises, DBA Magnagrip Corporation for the bid number IFB, KEM 24-038 for direct source diesel exhaust capture systems for fire stations. There's no funding on this. item. I'd like to uh put into the record that we did replace one of the documents you had in your packet. Um the document takers document

1:04:15has been replaced with uh the new one that you have in front of you. There were no other changes than that. So board members, this is the bid protest. The timeline for the project was as follows. We put out a we opened bids on February 6th of 2024. We received two bids, one from Rossman Enterprises, that's DBA of MagnaGrip, and Safe Fair Corporation. On 35 of 24, we met with Magna Grip as the low bidder. That was staff met at the fire station

1:04:46to go over their bid to make sure that it fit fit the specs and to make sure there were no outstanding questions. Staff present included facilities and fire and purchasing. On 318, we issued the notice of attempt to award to Magna Grip as the low bidder. On 325, Purchasing received a timely protest from Safe Air. On 415, the County Administrator denied Safe Air's protest. And then on 429 of 24, Safe Air requested a review in front of you all as the Board of County Commissioners.

1:05:17The protest that was dated on 325, it was submitted timely. The Safe Air protest has stated that Magnagrip's product did not meet the specifications, that their product was inferior and unproven, and may create a patent infringement. The county's response dated 415 was that we denied the protest. Uh the county administrator denied that protest. Safe Air then responded back to the denial of the protest on 429. Um they requested um that they come to you to um

1:05:48review the protest. County staff then engaged a third party engineer, Engineering Matrix, as an independent third party to review the product against the specifications to make sure that it was in line. Engineering Matrix Inc. determined that Magna Grip's product did meet the specifications. Our recommendation at staff as staff is that you uphold the decision by the county administrator to deny the protest by Safe Air per section two point one two four G two of the purchasing ordinance. We do have both MagnaGrip

1:06:19and Safe Air here to speak with you today. If you don't have any questions for me, we'd invite Safe Air as the protester to speak first.

1:06:26Okay. Any questions? See you now? Mm-hmm.

1:06:46Please state your name and address for the record. So

1:06:48my name is Stephen Birch. My address is [address removed], and I'm here on behalf of Safe Air. And this is Mr. Wayne Lutz, the CEO of Safe Air. He has some uh packets he'd like to hand you. Um then we also have a receiving file.

1:07:02Got a second? Let me second.

1:07:05I'll second. Second.

1:07:07I got a motion and second. Received and file. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Motion pass four zero.

1:07:19We need it now. I haven't I haven't.

1:07:25Okay. So first of all, thank you uh commissioners for your time. Um I'm gonna try to keep this short. We only have a few minutes. I'm gonna go over some things uh and we also have Mr. Wayne Martin, CEO, and Mr. Reggie Smith, managing partner, if you have any specific questions. Um, but I'd like to go over the highlights of our protest. Um SafeAir is the lead provider of air for air filtration systems and environmental products. Um with regards to this protest, I want to highlight two of the products. The first is SafeAir's

1:07:56controller. This is a patented controller. That measures carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide levels. And if they're too high, it provides email and call notifications to warn people. I mean, these are going in fire stations and going other places, but this is a life safety issue to monitor these levels. And Safe Air is the sole provider of applied movement products. With regards to that, they have what's called their MX nozzle. It it hangs down at the end of these hoses and it connects to the exhaust

1:08:26of the the equipment. Um and that'll come in uh uh uh important in a little bit. But those are two uh key products, they have others, but those are two key products related to this protest I'd like to point out. In 2017, the county, after looking around, began working with Safe Air to determine how best to retrofit all of the fire stations in the county with SafeAir products. As part of this, SafeAir went around to all of the fire stations. They created,

1:08:57and you can see there's engineering drawings, including electrical drawings. of every fire station in the county because that's the work they put in ahead of time. Um they also worked with the county to create the FEMA grant and and to submit that and that's the funding that's coming for this proposal is from a FEMA grant or at least ninety percent of it. Um And also, as a result of this, they were awarded as a scope contractor five of the new fire stations to be installed. They're still working on some of them. They're not all installed

1:09:27yet, but five of the fire stations are being installed with Safe Air products. Additionally, new vehicles are being installed with to be compatible with Safe Air products. I mean, these are things that they're doing that we're moving forward. Um hi just uh to put it in perspective, approximately five hundred and forty thousand dollars has been spent by the county so far investing in safe air products uh within its fire stations or will be by the time this is over with existing contracts. Um However, after the FEMA

1:09:57grant was awarded, Um the county bid out the rest of the 20 fire stations. Um as a side note uh before I get into the issues with with the Magna Grip bid, um if Safe Air is not awarded this contract. MagnaGrip and SafeAir, they are not compatible. There's no interoperability. So the equipment that's going to be equipped with uh magna grip uh uh equipment, they won't work in the Safe Air fire stations and vice versa. So you're going to have an

1:10:27interoperability problem with the existing ones that you've already done if Safe Air is not awarded this. And I also did want to point out that Pasco uh County Code allows for direct SolSource contracts.

1:10:43And that's a permissible thing that the code allows. Um but after the bids were evaluated, uh the the staff decided that MagnaGrip as the lowest bidder um would be awarded the contract. And it appears, and and you'll see this as I I go through, that that the issue solely was related to price. There are two issues with uh Magna Group's bid. The first is that it's not responsive. Magna bid Magna Group cannot meet the bid requirements. Um and this is in, I don't know if you've read the letter,

1:11:13it's included in your agenda packet. Um I'm I'm just gonna try to keep highlights, but there's a requirement in the bid. That there be a controller. That monitors carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide levels and sends out emails and phone calls if they reach unsafe levels. That is a requirement in the bid. As we stated, SafeAir has a patent for that technology. MagnaGrip cannot provide the requirement that's in the bid. We believe that the county used SafeAir's other stuff that it was using

1:11:43for uh these existing five fire stations to come up. Yeah. But the r reality is Uh absent a patent infringement lawsuit, Magnagrip cannot deliver the county the bid the the requirements that the bid stated. It would that they just can't do it. Um the a copy of the patent is included in the agenda packet items that we submitted to you. This isn't um you know something we're just making up. This is a a real patent, it's been litigated before, it's a valid patent. Um and and Magnagrip cannot meet the bid requirements. requirements.

1:12:14And as such, it's not responsive. You will not get the requirements that the requirements that are in the bid, Magna Grip cannot provide. And I have cited again some case law in in the letter to to explain the importance of responsiveness and that non-responsive bidders should not be awarded contracts. Um the second issue is responsibility. Um I'm sure the commission is familiar with the issue of lowball bidders. Um in fact, uh as I understand it, there was a a uh one of the fire stations being

1:12:44built. There was an issue with the general contractor um uh going bankrupt. Uh low ball bid couldn't complete it, led to bonding issues. Um it it's an issue. It's a big issue when a bidder comes in. With a low ball price, and then you're left with either the bid not being able to be completed or significant amounts of change orders that cost the county significant money, time, and effort. And and along those lines, the reason we know that the bid is low is because as part of

1:13:14this original this five-year 2017 process in these engineering drawings, um, my client uh reviewed all of the electrical panels. And you can see in each of those packets there's a drawing and then there's an electrical drawing. Um many of these stations don't have adequate their breaker panels uh, and I have Mr. Lutz can can fill in some of the

1:13:36Um there's no room for additional electrical, and it's going to require um electrical plans, electrical design, and electrical changes, which requires engineering. Um again, I I will let uh Mr. Lutz come after me and and explain some of the details, but we're talking about approximately two hundred and forty thousand dollars in engineering plans and each of the city specific permits that need to be accounted for that is From we can tell from the public records we've re received, Magna Grip did not account for at all. And

1:14:06this is going to lead to, you know, again, either change orders or failure of the of the contract. Um during the if you look at the actual bid and what occurred, and this is in the letter as well, um there are twenty stations. Um the as part of the bid process, only nine of those stations were visited and inspected. Um so Magna Grip's not aware of what's at the other eleven stations and and what's required. As part of its process beforehand, Safe Grip is aware, or SafeAir is

1:14:36aware, and they have the engineering drawings to show it, and those are included in the packet we gave you. Um Overall. We would really request that that you review this information. and determine that uh Magna Grip is not a responsive or responsible bidder. And award this to Safe Air. Um alternatively, we would request uh That you reject all bids and order a new bidding that takes into account the issues we're bringing up. I mean, because this is a life safety issue for our firefighters.

1:15:07This isn't uh, you know, uh we're not putting trees in parks. I mean, this is this is life safety equipment for firefighters and fire stations. This is a big deal. And and with that, uh, you know, i if you're it you could also table this issue tomorrow at 10 o'clock, station 20. Our clients are giving the demonstration on how to use their new product. You can go watch that. Everything I said, you can review. I uh we have we have backup in there and and you can do your own investigation. Look at this is a big issue um with with with life's on

1:15:37the line. So if if if you are interested in what we've said, you know, at the very least, table this issue, do some investigation, um, and and then come back and revisited if you need to. But otherwise we would ask that uh you uh find that Magna Grip is not responsive or responsible and award the contract to Safe Air. Um and I have Mr. Lutz for any questions and myself as well. Okay. Any

1:16:04questions?

1:16:05Well I have some questions, but I think it's more to staff than the advertising.

1:16:12Good morning. My name is uh Wayne Lutz. I'm Chief Executive Officer of Safe Air Corporation in the uh supplying of uh fire stations for nearly forty-five years. Uh we're the largest manufacturer, about eighty-five percent market share in the country. Um we've been working with Pasco County uh for four years, uh since uh Station thirty eight, where With uh Fleisch McGarcia, we basically did the engineering to evaluate how we were going to do the stations. They

1:16:43continued on that uh process of uh setting up the specifications that best suited the firefighters in Pasco County. Uh so like uh my attorney said, uh we're under contract right now for Um Twenty which we'll be starting up uh tomorrow. Uh seventeen, which was the bankrupt uh contractor that we basically uh got involved backwards with the bonding company. So as far as knowing the details of

1:17:13Pasco County, there's nobody greater than us that understands your fire stations inside out. And for low budget contractors, um and Magna Grip does this all the time, they'll come in, low boil it, and they'll change order you to death. Uh in ending, I'll say this. We're so confident of our product. Our product will have a one hundred percent Warranty. For the life of the equipment, no

1:17:44questions asked. So that's just like a bumper-to-bumper warranty. You'll have no skin in the game. We were the ones that basically gave the uh The uh Pricing for the grant, which was one point four million dollars. to let that money go and not use uh utilize it to the best of your ability and our ability is a waste of federal taxpayer funds. You only have ten percent of the game. So think about it again. We invite you

1:18:14to see what we're doing at uh station twenty tomorrow. And we appreciate the time. Thank you. Thanks, sir. Thank you.

1:18:23Staff come back.

1:18:30Okay.

1:18:32Do you f feel the um Mr. Chairman Mariano we're getting in the

1:18:36if I could interrupt, I think for process we would I would rather you have the um magna

1:18:43grip.

1:18:44Magna grip. Okay. Present first and then ask all your questions of step.

1:18:55I didn't know I'll save

1:18:56there.

1:18:59Name and address for the record.

1:19:00Good morning. My name is Greg Roach, 11449, Deerfield, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45243. I'm the Director of Sales at MagnaGrip. I have a short statement, I'll read that, and I'm happy to answer any questions. Good morning. MagnaGrip has been designing, selling, manufacturing, and installing equipment to provide clean air to its customers since 1982. We've revolutionized the industry by replacing pneumatic connections to fire apparatus with magnetic connection with a magnetic connection nozzle that quickly became the industry standard. Our American-made and

1:19:30American-owned family company has equipment installed in thousands of stations nationwide. MagnaGrip is the manufacturer of its products and sells direct to its customers. MagnaGrip is proud to sell direct to Pasco County and all of Florida. We are also pleased to serve Pasco County by meeting all specifications set forth in the invitation to bid for the direct source capture system for the fire stations within the county. We are happy to address any specific concerns or questions regarding our proposals or points within the protest received by the County. Otherwise, we have enjoyed

1:20:01the and already and looking forward to working with the county and the fire department. Thank you.

1:20:07Okay. So You have any questions?

1:20:15I don't know if it's appropriate to say will you guarantee that there won't be change orders.

1:20:20We we've met specifications within the I ITB and we're happy to go through that point by point. Um I I do have a few notes. Um I That's impossible for me to say to to say that answer um at this point.

1:20:35Well I think our b our purchasing agent's coming up.

1:20:40Yes, ma'am. Along those lines, we did reach out to the references provided and there were no concerns from the other clients about excessive change orders or failure to meet SPEX. Okay. Um I guess I do have a

1:20:51question. Um If we have one style in some of the firehouses, how does does that affect a style in a

1:21:00different firehouse? It's my understanding that there's an adapter, but I'm gonna let Chief Perez explain a little better. Okay.

1:21:06Good morning, Tony Perez, Fire Chief. Pasco County Fire Rescue, good morning. No, so I was at that meeting at station nine with Magna Grip. And that was one of the questions that was presented. And they We went through the meeting, we did a hands-on uh Display a demonstration. They had an adapter that was able to attach to the the PlimaVet system. that would capture that exhaust. so we went through those with the easement.

1:21:40That was part of the bid for the stations that currently have have the Plimovit system. So When we started building these fire stations through facilities and and the negotiation and collaboration. Prime event was included in that. So now that we went out for a bid and we were granted the bid and we went to the lowest bidder, Magna Grip came in first place or or won the bid, it's or was awarded the bid. Um so that's where we met with the gentleman from

1:22:10Magna Grip and we went through this this process of station nine.

1:22:14And did we use the other companies

1:22:16drawings to go out for the bid? No, ma'am. It's my understanding that when we were aw we were going for the grant award, we did ask for some specifications. Uh we did ask them for a quote, I'm sorry. They provide us as a quote. We did not ask them for drawings. They offered the drawings to fire department staff. They sent the drawings, but those drawings were not used as part of the grant process. And um Are we losing one point four million dollars? What I don't know No ma'am, we're we're taking advantage of the grant and

1:22:46it will be for the awarded amount. I guess those were my questions. I'm not sure about the specific of the grant. If we can use the remaining money on the table for anything else, that's a that's kinda outside my purview.

1:22:56I

1:22:56I can answer that quote.

1:23:00You need to come up tonight.

1:23:04You can't answer from back there.

1:23:09The money can be used. As long as it's within the realm of the project. Uh I again At that point, that is the decision between FEMA and the county. Um but but the money can be used for any number of things. In fact, you can also go back to FEMA and say we would request to use it in a totally different way. It takes a little bit more paperwork, but in terms of using the money for the uh the remaining money in terms of um the scope of the project, it's it's high it's it's typical but

1:23:39um

1:23:42Okay.

1:23:43Chairman Mariano. Uh. Yes, Mr. Weightman.

1:23:46Thank you, Chairman M This is I guess a procedural question. Well two questions, but one's procedurally. So

1:23:57Yes sir. That's their involvement here. Yes sir. So because a sub a prime contractor picked a sub

1:24:07Safair's argument is simply saying because they were a sub, now the county's handcuffed and having to use them because had no choice of our own They were picked to be a sub on other projects.

1:24:20That really is a hindrance to the procurement process and getting bids if systems aren't compatible. Correct. And then you're looking at you know potentially sole source opportunities, which then eliminates the opportunity for a competitive bid. That's concerning to me. for one, because these are high dollar infrastructure products for our stations. So You have any comments on This scenario.

1:24:44Yes, sir. So we do not specify unless absolutely necessary the name brand of the system. We typically tend to use performance-based specs where we say it has to accomplish X, Y, and Z. That way any system can fit the need. In this case, we are able to utilize their system with an adapter that hooks in. So we are not sole sourced into.

1:25:05Okay.

1:25:08So Chief. Do you have any concerns with the staff recommendated recommendation for the awardee? Any concerns to your troops that are living there or working there? with using the system as compared to the other.

1:25:23No sir.

1:25:24No concerns.

1:25:24Thank you, Chief.

1:25:25You're welcome.

1:25:28So there's a savings in this bid.

1:25:31Yes, sir. The uh magna grip system is one million fifty-nine thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven dollars and the Safe Air bid was one that one million five hundred sixty thousand dollars.

1:25:41Okay.

1:25:41Wait,

1:25:42say those numbers again?

1:25:43Roughly four hundred thousand dollars saved.

1:25:45About four hundred forty thousand

1:25:46dollars

1:25:46yes, ma'am.

1:25:49And I that gentleman's standing up, so I think he wanted to We gave Magna an opportunity to come forward to speak. Yes, sir.

1:25:56Come forward.

1:25:59I recommend you folks, like I said, I've been involved. I was one of the members that got FEMA AFG grant started for back in 2002. Uh if you don't believe or do believe whoever you want to believe, and that's why we're coming to you. Call Kathy Peterson at FEMA headquarters on K Street in Washington and ask her about using supplemental funds left over. And you will get an answer and it's not his answer. Thank

1:26:29you.

1:26:35Well, I don't want to lose one point four million to save four hundred thousand, so

1:26:40Ma'am, we're not going to lose the funding. The the bid specifications at the bid process we're going to be awarded the grant amount. We're only going to use one point L one point one million on it on this project, but we have supplemental funds left over there. If there's about three hundred thousand left, we can use it for related systems. So we don't have to use the entire amount in one field swoop with this bid. We can use it for related s so we're not going to lose the award. Okay.

1:27:06Okay. Yeah. Thank you, Chair. As

1:27:08the grant specifies.

1:27:10Going forward I guess is best management practice within this process if there are potential conflicts between equipment that subs use that could interfere in a bidding process. I guess let's not be naive to that. uh and that way there's not a conflict, that way all equipment if we get a better price on one brand over other, they work seamlessly in concert together and it sounds like this will happen here. Um basically we've been told that this is a very important thing.

1:27:40Basically the same type of equipment, correct?

1:27:42Yes,

1:27:42sir.

1:27:43So I appreciate Safe Air's uh commitment to Pasco County and keeping firefighters safe all across the nation it seems and doing business here and we welcome friendly competition in our market. We want the best contractors that we we can. in Pasco County, but with that I'll I'll uh make a motion to uphold staff approval.

1:28:03I'll second. Got a motion to second. Second.

1:28:07Yeah,

1:28:07that would be to that

1:28:08would be to deny the protest. Correct.

1:28:11Correct. That's the motion. I have a second to that. Okay. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed like sign? Hearing none, it passes four zero. Okay. Thank you.