Dunwoody Awards Contracts to Private Firms to Run City Hall

The city of Dunwoody will soon hire some new help to provide the city with government services starting January 2012.

On Monday, the City Council awarded several contracts to private vendors. The contracts with an option for a fourth year.

The new contract terms, in total, could save the city more than $3 million over four years, city officials said.

• JAT Consulting and Calvin Giordano & Associates were awarded a $4.9 million finance and administration contract
• Jacobs was awarded a $760,000 public relations and marketing contract
• InterDev was awarded a $1.2 million information technology contract
• Clark Patterson Lee was awarded a permitting and code compliance contract and a separate planning and zoning contract worth a total of $2.8 million

Warren Hutmacher, city manager, said that keeping the government operating efficiently and at a low cost was the reason that the functions were sent out to bid.

The city's current roster of vendors was brought on board when the city incorporated in late 2008.

“We didn’t go through this bid process because we were unhappy with who we had,” but to get a better price, Hutmacher said.

However, one vendor is unhappy with the outcome of the bids.

Lowe Engineers, a current city vendor that was not selected for either of the two lucrative contracts the company sought, is balking at the process.

A letter sent this week by Lowe to the city questioned how bids were recommended for public works and parks and recreation, according to Councilman Robert Wittenstein.

Clark Patterson Lee was in line to receive a total of four contracts, including the two they were awarded, plus the public works and parks and recreation contracts.

Because of Lowe's letter, the city delayed the award of the parks and recreation contract and the public works contract to allow the city time to respond.

Lowe was ranked higher than Clark Patterson Lee for the parks and recreation and public works contracts, but Clark Patterson Lee offered a sizable discount to the city for the award of four contracts.

“They did send a letter and we postponed to allow city staff to give them a response,” Wittenstein said.

Wittenstein said he expected the city to vote on the final two contracts at the next regular city council meeting. The public works and park and recreation contracts are worth roughly $2.5 million over four years.

Meanwhile, Hutmacher said despite a likely turnover in city vendors, many of the faces around City Hall could remain the same.

There’s no commitments, but new contractors have been encouraged to reach out to qualified employees and “nearly everyone” could be retained, he said.