County retracts bid for truck, to start process over

Bartholomew County officials are putting new procedures in place after a snafu over bids for a new county truck.

Recently the Bartholomew County Commissioners awarded a bid for a new truck for the assessor’s office to Country Chevrolet of North Vernon. However, commissioners decided yesterday to scrap the contract and start over after an error was discovered in the process.

According to Commissioners President Carl Lienhoop the paperwork was read incorrectly and another bidder, Chevrolet of Columbus, actually came in with a cheaper offer. The difference was just over $179 dollars. But the final total was buried deep in the 12 pages of bid documents and was missed by the county officials.

Commissioners decided at their Monday meeting that the most fair thing to do would be to rescind the contract and seek new bids.

To prevent the problem from happening again, county officials will now require a cover page from bidders with the bottom line price listed and an estimated delivery date.