Resident sues to oust fire official

Specification writing for the purchase of items for the fire department is an important step. Often there is only one item that meets your requirements. If this is the case, be prepared to defend your reasons i.e. specialized training, compatibility with existing equipment, there is only one that does "x", etc. Insure that all stakeholders are aware of and support the selection of a single vendor. Using restrictive specifications that cannot be justified will expose you to critizism and potentially lawsuits.

The temptation to use specification templates supplied by a vendor or personnel with a relationship with the vendor should also be avoided. Well meaning offers to help you with the specification writing may be looked upon as unfair access that eliminates competition.

Allan 


From: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Resident-sues-to-oust-fire-official-3782971.php

She wants him removed after he wrote specs for truck his company sells

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By Tim O'Brien

Updated 8:31 p.m., Sunday, August 12, 2012

COLONIE — A town resident is suing to oust a fire commissioner over his involvement in writing specifications for a truck his company sells.

Kathryn Freenern filed the lawsuit in the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court. She seeks to have Philip D'Angelo removed as a commissioner for the Midway fire department.

D'Angelo wrote the specifications for a new firetruck for the department when he serves as a salesman for Rosenbauer America, a leading firetruck manufacturer. Several competing firms accused the department of rigging the bids to ensure Rosenbauer got the contract.

When the board voted, D'Angelo abstained and there were insufficient votes to approve the purchase. In May, he announced that his firm would not bid if the department renewed its effort to acquire a truck.

Freenern is being represented by attorney Michael Carota, who also represents Midway Fire Chief Robert Sammons.

Sammons was suspended by the department for reasons that have not been made public. A hearing officer has issued a report after hearing evidence in the case, but both Carota and Jack Clark, the district's attorney, have declined to discuss the matter.

The board of commissioners is expected to take up the chief's future at its Aug. 20 meeting.

Carota said Freenern believes D'Angelo recusing himself from the vote does not change the fact he wrote specifications to benefit his company. In the lawsuit, Freenern says, the bid specifies "the use of steel in any portion of the body construction is not acceptable" when only Rosenbaur trucks have all-aluminum bodies.

"She feels that it was unethical and a conflict of interest for him to be involved as he was in that bid specification," Carota said. "The bid specification was based off their proprietary specifications."

D'Angelo said he could not yet comment because he is in the process of hiring an attorney. The case is due back in court Aug. 27.

"At the appropriate time, we will definitely have something to say about this," he said.

Back in May, D'Angelo said at a commissioners' meeting that he volunteered to write the specifications because he has 30 years of experience. He thought it would be less expensive than having specifications written from scratch, he told the commissioners then.

"Looking back on that now, I think that was a mistake," he said at the time. "We were trying to save the district $6,000."