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August 16th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Does the buck stop at the Chancellor for this bid process, or does it go through a board of some sort? I’d like to know whose to blame for this, as it not only decreases the public’s trust in their pubic higher ed institutions, but also puts the kibosh for the time being on progress.
So who, technically, is to blame? And is this evidence, as it appears to be, of cronyism?
August 16th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
The reports on this contract are confusing. From the original SUN article:
“Brasi proposed building the dorm on a privately owned property at 117 Marginal St. near South Campus and leasing the building to the university for $2.6 million annually for the first five years.
Academic Village submitted a bid for the same size dorm on Pawtucket Street with a smaller $2.32 million annual lease and agreed to give the facility to UMass Lowell free of charge after 40 years.
McCafferty said related costs in the Academic Village bid would have required students to pay $16,000 a year for housing compared to $6,500 for the Brasi facility.”
It is pretty clear how the $2.6M annual lease cost of the selected approach translates to $6,500 per unit for the 400 unit dormitory, but it is certainly unclear how the $2.32 million alternate lease could translate to $16,000 per year for the same number of units. The proponent of the alternate lease disputes the $16,000 cited by the University, but doesn’t come out and say that the number should be $5,800 per lease.
A complicating factor is the initial availability of the units, the selected approach is August of 2009, whereas the alternate is the Winter of 2009/2010. Exactly how much that time difference means in terms of comparative dollars is an open question. In any case, it is not clear from the data provided which of the two should be granted the project based on what is best for the students and the taxpayers of MA.
August 16th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Ya think Scannell and Sullivan were donors to Meehan’s warchest or his foundation??
August 16th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
The question that popped into my mind was if the protestor was, in fact, the “lowest responsible bidder.” I am reading a 1990 book by a Harvard Prof (Steven Kelman) before sending it off to my youngest Brother–Procurement and Public Management: The Fear of Discretion and the Quality of Government Performance. That the procurement authorities made a choice of approach that the AG didn’t agree with does not mean the “fix was in.” The University authorities attempted to exercise discretion. The book author noted that Woodrow Wilson “argued that nonelected government officials should be kept from any discretion at all but should simply execute decisions made by others.” This strikes me as bad policy.
The Academic Village bid offered housing a semester after the desired delivery date put forward by the University. If we accept there is a need for dorm space–and I think there is–we are back to the question of “lowest responsible bidder.”
Regards — Cliff
August 17th, 2008 at 12:19 am
They can’t be talking about the old Burbecks lot. Can they?
The neighborhood already said that condos couldn’t be built there. What makes this kind of project different? Also, how would they be able to fit parking in that little lot without taking out part of the national park as well?
August 17th, 2008 at 1:43 am
Usually, if a firm has a beef with a (public) selection process, they file a protest right after selection. I don’t know what is specifically meant by the “greater latitude in awarding the contract” in terms of the protest process. I would assume that there was some means to file a protest. If so, it seems awfully late in the game to be talking about AG filings if construction is already under way. I’d be interested to know what the time-line of events actually was here because it looks suspect to me at this stage of the game. More to the point… even in a ‘beefier’ selection process, not being able to meet the proposed schedule is almost always a valid reason to reject a bidder, even a low one. Even if the bid selection was based on price (and disclosed as such), a bid that didn’t meet the parameters of schedule is often (usually) rejected as non-responsive. All of this above is, of course, separate from any cronyism angle (actual or perceived).
August 17th, 2008 at 10:10 am
With regard to the question about if there is a difference between condos and dorms. The answer is parking. Dorms don’t need anywhere near as much parking (in theory) and as I remember, inadequate parking was a major reason the neighborhood didn’t want condos.
August 17th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
The dorm location on Marginal St is *NOT* the same as the Burbeck’s condos location. Marginal St runs between Middlesex St and the large S Campus parking lot off of Broadway St
August 17th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Paul, check out the original article to see where the question about Burbeck’s probably came from.
“Brasi proposed building the dorm on a privately owned property at 117 Marginal St. near South Campus and leasing the building to the university for $2.6 million annually for the first five years.
Academic Village submitted a bid for the same size dorm on Pawtucket Street with a smaller $2.32 million annual lease and agreed to give the facility to UMass Lowell free of charge after 40 years.”
August 17th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
One big downside to the marginal street location is the freight trains that run past @ 3:00am.
There is a reason they call it “marginal”
August 18th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Regarding the old Burbeck’s lot. The special permit for condos has expired so condos aren’t going in there. HOWEVER that parcel was rezoned as institutional with the express purpose of building dorms.
Since putting a dorm on the site would not require a zoning change I doubt that any public hearing would be required at all.
I think it was excluded in this round of “biddng” because they probably couldn’t deliver on the timelne set down by the university because Gary’s Ice Crean holds a lease.
Look for the Burbeck’s property to be converted to dorms when Gary’s lease expires, neighborhood objections or not.
August 18th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
I’m sure Gary could be bought out of his lease, as that location is not prime for high-priced ice cream.
August 18th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
I’ve never had any ice cream at Gary’s Burbeck’s location but he does seem to attract a lot of cars when the weather cooperates. Neighbors might be out priced (although I don’t know his prices) but vehicle traffic seems to indicate he’s doing okay.
So given what Gary had to invest in the building to open (Burbeck Falls LLC sold off all the equipment that was Burbecks at auction) and Gary’s potential income over the life of the lease based on his earnings so far (again, I don’t know what they are but based on vehicles in the parking lot he’s doing at least as well as he expected) and the mortgage that Burbeck Falls LLC still has on the property, I would guess they would rather just wait out Gary’s lease than try to buy it out.