Organizational Communication and
Argumentation class assignment
Bloomsburg University
James Tomlinson, Ph.D.

PRESS ENTERPRISE - Bloomsburg PA - January 7, 2000, Page 1
Leon Bogdan - staff writer

CONTRACTOR NIXES $500G BU GIFT

University rejected Rado bid because of missing minority document

A local contractor has canceled a $500,000 gift to Bloomsburg University and pulled thousands more in athletic donations after the school rejected his bid to do work on campus.

A.D.  "Tony" Rado says he submitted the low bid to install heating lines at Scranton Commons, but BU gave the job to another company because Rado did not file mandatory documentation concerning minority subcontractors.

That was a "technicality" that BU could have waived, said Rado, who added that the school will now have to pay $7,000 more for the work.

But, Joe Quinn, BU's director of purchasing, said there was more than a technicality involved.

Rado Enterprises Inc., South Centre Township, failed to include a key bid document showing Rado acted "in good faith" to hire minority-or-female-owned subcontractors on the job, said Quinn.

"We had it.  We had all the documentation," Rado explained.  "Why wasn't it submitted? A clerical mix-up.  It was not included in the bid package because of an oversight."

When Rado received BU's decision, he said, he immediately called his lawyer and ordered that his will be rewritten to remove "an extremely handsome" endowment of about $500,000 that he and his wife had planned to leave the university.

Rado said his other contributions to the university will "now come to an abrupt halt" as well.

A member of BU"s Husky Club, Rado said he has given an average of $3,000 to $5,000 per year to support scholarship programs and the football and wrestling teams.  No more, he said.

BU: Rules same for all bidders
Rado Enterprises lost a job as a result of the same problem in 1988 when it did not included the minority documentation in a $7.5 million bid for work at Hershey Medical Center. 

This time the focus of the fight is Rado's bid of $319,000 to upgrade the Scranton Commons heating system.  Silvertip Inc., Lewisburg, supplied all documentation and won the job with a bid of $326,000 Quinn said.

The documentation that Rado failed to submit is essential to any bid, said Quinn who has served as purchasing director since 1983 and awarded other contracts to Rado Enterprises.

"It's clearly spelled out in the bid document.  It was not a minor deficiency that we could have waived." said Quinn.

All bidders on state jobs have to meet the same rules, Quinn explained, regardless of their financial support to the local campus.

If no minority-or-female-owned businesses bid on the work, as Rado asserts was the case with the Scranton Commons project, then another non-minority firm can be hired as a subcontractor.

"He still has to show us that he's given opportunities to minorities" Quinn said.

Quinn said he opened all bids and then went an extra step in reviewing Rado's complaint with the chancellor's office in Harrisburg. 

Quinn said he and the university would have been subject to more problems and potential lawsuits had he overlooked Rado's mistake and awarded the work to the local firm.

It's principle
But Rado insisted, "It's principle.  They had an opportunity to award a bid at a lower cost and failed to do that."

He added, "Not only could they have waived a piece of paper that has no bearing on the cost, but somebody could have picked up a phone and asked to have it in writing.  We would have gladly had it to him the next day."

Quinn said he did telephone Rado's job estimator about the incomplete bid package, but did not hear any more about it until Rado sent an angry letter to university officials.

"I got blindsided by that letter," Quinn said.  " The thing that really bothered me is I invited Tony up to show him what I was talking about."

Quinn added, "It's not a minor technicality.  I could not have waived it.  It was a failure on his part to submit a mandatory submission at bid time.  My ability to allow it is an out-and-out-lie."

Rado is now preparing to bid on an even bigger campus project: conversion of the old Andruss Library into a comprehensive student services center.

"I'll be happy to see him doing work on that project.  If he is going to submit a bid that is found to be complete and proper," Quinn said.

BU: No taxes involved
Rado contended BU is costing the taxpayers an extra $7,000 by not taking his bid. 

But school officials say no taxpayer funds are involved.  The renovations, totaling $3.15 million to upgrade the dining hall and vending areas of Scranton Commons, are being funded through a reserve fund set up through food service operations a decade ago.

In terms of money, the loss of the $319,000 contract was not huge to Rado.  He said he considered the heating contract overall a relatively minor job, compared to multi-million-dollar projects his company has done over the years, including schools and hospitals. 

Rado Enterprises is now wrapping up a major contract on plumbing and heating lines fo an expansion at the Merck pharmaceutical plant in Riverside.

"This is on the low end for the work we do.  We've done $39.3 million worth of projects over the pas two years," Rado said.

Similar Controversy
Rado Enterprises has lost out on state work in the past because of a similar bidding controversy.

In 1988, Rado lost a $7.5 million bid to expand heating and plumbing services at Hershey Medical Center in 1988 because the firm failed to submit the same documentation.

Rado protested, leading to a protracted legal challenge to then-Gov. Robert Casey's Office of Minority and Women Business Enterprise.

The case ended up in Commonwealth Court, but the nondiscrimination policy remained in force while Rado's chief competitor, Sponaugle & Sons Inc. of Harrisburg, ended up doing the Hershey job on a higher bid of $8 million.

BU project on track
Rado was one of about 10 firms bidding on heating renovations at Scranton Commons, the main student dining hall on campus.

A major portion of the work was awarded to the general contracting firm of Calwell, Hickels and Egan Inc. of Lancaster at a cost of $108,000.

Quinn said renovations to the Commons should get under way soon and be completed in about 10 months.

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