By: Diane Benjamin
The ammo purchase is back, same quantities and same price. I emailed the police for an explanation. My research was no apples to apples with what they wanted to buy. Below is there response. They referenced my article in their response:
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Hello Mrs. Benjamin,
We have done research pertaining to the attached email regarding the ammunition request that was to have gone in front of City Council on December 8, 2014.
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This is for the .40 caliber pistol training rounds offered by Cheaper than Dirt. The price per box is $19.06, and there are 10 boxes per a case via their website. Total for a “case” of 500 rounds of this caliber is $190.16.
The Illinois Procurement Bulletin under contract #4017592, page 11 the same ammunition (Q4238) price per case of 500 rounds is $241.00
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This is for the .223 caliber rifle ammunition offered by Cheaper than Dirt. The price per box is $11.06. According to Cheaper than Dirt’s website, they equate a “case” of .223 to total 10 boxes which is $110.60. There are 20 rounds per box so that is 200 rounds for their “case”. To equal the state contract, I need 4 more of their “cases” @ $110.60 for a total of $553.00
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The Illinois Procurement Bulletin under contract #4017592, page 9, the same ammunition (Q3131) price per case of 1,000 rounds is $352.00.
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One can see how the total quantities of the above mentioned rifle ammunition do not equal each other. Evidently, individual vendors can claim whatever number they choose to equal a “case” quantity. With this being said here are the totals of both entities:
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Cheaper than Dirt: 82 cases of .40 cal ammo $15,629.20
Illinois Procurement Contract price $19,762.00
The State price is $4,132.80 MORE for the same amount
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Cheaper than Dirt: 68 cases of .223 cal ammo $37,604.00
Illinois Procurement Contract price $23,936.00
The State price is $13,668.00 LESS for the same amount
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* Cheaper than Dirt also charges shipping for the above amounts of ammunition which is $1,483.65
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So by purchasing via the Illinois State Procurement method, the City of Bloomington would SAVE $11,018.85
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We did receive a response from Cheaper than Dirt as to how they handle ammunition purchases:
Their price quotes are only good for 24 hours,
The order has to be prepaid for,
If a particular warehouse (and their particular price) does not have enough to fulfill the order, I would have to do one of two things: order what the warehouse has on hand, or order from the warehouse that has the quantity that I need and pay that warehouse’s price. By looking at Cheaper than Dirt’s website the subsequent warehouse prices are higher, than the prices that were originally referenced to.
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The Police Department has to follow City of Bloomington Procurement rules when it comes to purchasing various items. As a result of these rules, one cannot make a purchase without proper authorization. The Illinois State Procurement contract pertaining to ammunition purchases is valid until November 14, 2015.
Thanks,
Officer Sara Mayer
Public Affairs
309-434-2355
Bloomington Police Department
305 S. East Street
Bloomington, IL 61702
Must be using Common Core math in their purchasing guidelines.
Kudos to BPD on this. It was a thorough, thoughtful response.
Seriously? The BPD cannot go to a cheaper source for ammo? Sounds like the Federal government to me!