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Boulder Rejects Pridemark Appeal, Selects AMR

Mitchell Byars, Camera Staff Writer

The city of Boulder has rejected an appeal from Pridemark/Rural Metro and will sign a five-year contract with American Medical Response despite Pridemark's insistence the selection process for ambulance coverage was flawed.

In a letter sent to Pridemark dated Oct. 27, City Manager Jane Brautigam said that she has decided to award the contract to AMR. The city announced AMR had won the contract in August, but Pridemark submitted a letter of appeal in September, saying there were mathematical errors in the scoring and inconsistencies in the judging process.

Tom Carr, the city attorney, said the city did acknowledge the scoring errors -- which showed a 60-point difference instead of a two-point difference -- but AMR still came out ahead in the scores after the math was corrected. He added the scores are just part of the evaluation process the city used to make its selection.

"There were some math errors and that is embarrassing and it's unfortunate that something like that happened," Carr said. "But you don't just judge them based on math scores."

But David Patterson, the division general manager for Rural Metro -- which owns Pridemark -- said the scoring was just one of many issues with the selection process.

"I think we were disappointed not just because they reaffirmed their selection, but more importantly that they went back to the panel that made the recommendation originally and they made a subjective decision," Patterson said.

"I guess ultimately we wanted to have a process with basic fairness and an understanding of the rules. We participate in this process around the country and I've never seen so much confusion and ambiguity."

Patterson said Pridemark still had some questions the response to the appeal did not answer, and are sending a response letter to the city to highlight those. Specifically, Pridemark wondered why it appeared its proposal to have more ambulance units than AMR as well as their promise to set up a Boulder EMS Foundation to benefit Boulder's emergency response system did not appear to factor into the panel's recommendation.

"Since 1999 Pridemark has proved to be a reliable, effective, high-quality service provider and we would have continued that in the new contract," Patterson said. "I just think our employees performed admirably for over a decade, and our new proposal added benefits to the city and residents."

In its response letter, the city said it went with AMR's because they had more resources to pull for large events and emergencies and offered cheaper rates for customers. Carr said the city normally does not allow protests in bid process, but did in this case.

"I think the city bent over backwards to be fair," Carr said of the process. "I think we had two great applicants, and that is always a good thing. I think it's good to have competition instead of just continuing to go with the same people we've always had."

Both AMR and Pridemark submitted proposals in June after the city announced that it was putting its ambulance service out for bids. In addition to the panel -- whose members included officials from local fire and police departments as well as a lawyer and financial expert from the city -- Fire Chief Larry Donner also recommended AMR after reviewing the proposals.

"It ultimately comes down to who the city thinks can provide the best services," Carr said. "We had people who were experts and they felt AMR was the better choice." AMR's five-year contract is scheduled to begin on Jan. 1, 2012.

Contact Camera Staff Writer Mitchell Byars at 303-473-1329 or byarsm@dailycamera.com

 


 

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