- April 25, 2024
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Palm Coast's City Council will allow a bid protest filed against the city by an insurance company to continue through the appeals process, despite city staff's recommendation to halt it.
The company, Public Risk Insurance Advisors, had appealed after it wasn't selected by the city for a contract for general liability and worker's compensation insurance even though city staff assigned it a higher ranking during the bidding process than the competing firm, Preferred Governmental Insurance Trust, which ultimately won the bid.
PRIA then filed an appeal, but did so without following the city's rules of procedure, which require the appellant to submit a bid protest appeal bond which would have totaled $54,285. Instead, PRIA posted a surety bond.
The bid protest appeal bond is designed to let the city recoup costs arising from the appeal process, and attorneys for the city argued that the surety bond did not meet the city's requirements and would make the recovery process more difficult for the city.
The city filed a motion to dismiss PRIA's appeal on that basis, but a hearing officer found in favor of the insurance company, recommending that the City Council deny city staff's motion to dismiss the appeal.
At a special City Council meeting Nov. 2, council members had three options: to allow the appeal to proceed, deny the appeal or to throw out all bids and start over.
Councilman Jon Netts favored the third option.
"Option one or two, you're probably going to have somebody unhappy," Netts said. But with option three, he said, "The end result, in my opinion, is the city of Palm Coast becomes the winner."
But council Vice Mayor Nick Klufas said he worried about setting a precedent in which a company that loses a bid could appeal and then get a chance to rebid.
Councilman Bob Cuff agreed. "To me, the relatively minor inconvenience of this appellant complying with the appellate process that they are proceeding under is greatly outweighed by future challenges to this process by bidders who say, 'Well, you let them do it, why not us?'" he said.
The council voted 4-1, with Netts dissenting, to allow PRIA to move forward with the appeal if it complies with the bond requirement.
"It seems the current motion gives them ample opportunity to correct a procedural defect," Cuff said.
