Overview
During our audit period, BHRD maintained an agreement with the Town of Lanesborough for road maintenance services. According to the “Agreement between the Town of Lanesborough and the Baker Hill Road District Road Maintenance Services,” these services included the following:
- SNOW PLOWING AND DE-ICING OPERATIONS . . .
- STREET SWEEPING . . .
- GENERAL ROUTINE MAINTENANCE OF THE ROAD PROGRAM, INCLUDING POTHOLE REPAIRS, MINOR GUARDRAIL REPAIRS, REPLACING EXISTING SIGNS . . .
- CATCH BASIN PROGRAM
- INSPECTION
- CLEANING
- REPAIRS . . .
- VEGETATION MAINTENANCE PROGRAM (INCLUDES MOWING, PRUNING, RESEEDING AND FERTILIZATION)
- TREE INSPECTION, MAINTENANCE AND TRIMMING PROGRAM
In addition, the agreement allows BHRD to procure additional services related to road maintenance from the Town. BHRD entered into this agreement, which had a three-year duration, in 2014. The agreement was extended, by mutual agreement between BHRD and the Town of Lanesborough, for five years in 2017. The cost in the 2014 contract was $102,000 annually, but the cost can be adjusted annually by as much as 5% if BHRD and the Town of Lanesborough mutually agree to do so. During the audit period, BHRD paid the Town of Lanesborough $104,318 and $124,244 for road maintenance services for fiscal years 2019 and 2020, respectively.
Although BHRD was not required to competitively procure these services, OSA believes BHRD should ensure that all road maintenance services procured through this contract are the best value available.
BHRD has not attempted to procure road maintenance services from any other vendor since 2014. Although BHRD is required to comply with Chapter 30B of the General Laws, the specific services procured in 2014 were exempt. This was because Section 1 of Chapter 30B of the General Laws exempts snowplowing and contracts with political subdivisions (such as towns) from competitive procurement.
BHRD officials told us that, when attempting to procure these road maintenance services in 2014, they posted a request for response for the services publicly in order to control costs associated with the services. When conducting the competitive procurement, BHRD only received one other bidder, which ultimately decided to withdraw from consideration. Therefore, BHRD decided to use the Town of Lanesborough for road maintenance services.
OSA believes that to ensure that the contract has the best value, BHRD should post a request for response for road maintenance services.
Auditee’s Response
We will solicit bids to see if we can achieve savings in our road maintenance budget.
Auditor’s Reply
Based on its response, BHRD is taking measures to address our concern
| Date published: | March 24, 2022 |
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