A local fuel company filed a complaint with the Federal Transit Authority alleging Citilink did not properly follow its competitive bidding procedures.
Petroleum Traders Corp., of Fort Wayne, filed the complaint Sept. 29 against Citilink. It asks the authority to require Citilink to again take bids for its fuel contract. “We think they violated procedure, as a consequence we’re asking for a rebid,” said Michael Himes, Petroleum Traders president.
Citilink Director Ken Housden denied the claims and said another contractor was chosen because it had the lowest prices.
“Frankly we feel the protest is without merit,” Housden said.
Citilink opened bids in May but was forced to reject them because they were only good for a day. Housden said the transit company’s board could not be assembled in time to approve them, so they had to be rejected.
Himes argues his company had the lowest bid at that time.
Ag Plus was awarded the fuel contract after bids were reopened in September. Housden said the Ag Plus bids were consistently lower than Petroleum Traders’, with a difference ranging from 4 cents a gallon to 22 cents a gallon, depending on the fuel.
“Petroleum (Traders) was the highest bidder on all the products we requested,” Housden said.
The protest from Petroleum Traders stems from the timing of the award. Himes said Ag Plus was given the contract two days after bids were opened, which didn’t give his company enough time to file a formal protest.
Housden said that before the bids were opened, Petroleum Traders said it wasn’t planning to protest the contract but decided to do so after it was awarded. The protest was examined by Citilink’s attorneys but was eventually rejected.
Housden said Citilink is preparing its response.
