By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

After receiving negative feedback during the bidding process for the $1.3 million HVAC replacement at Hays Middle School, the Hays USD 489 Board of Education discussed new procedures at its work session this week that will help ensure further bids are more easily accessible to interested parties.

The biggest change to the procedure is the addition of a coordinator who will process bids from across the district. The duties will fall upon Marissa Lambert, deputy board clerk.

“We tried to put into place a better system,” Lambert said, explaining to the board specific steps will now be taken for every bid request.

Bids requests made by district department heads will be given to Lambert, then she will move the request out through various methods, including many that were already in place.

“As soon as the RFPs (Request for Proposals)  are sent out to all the vendors, then we make sure that they are put on the webpage, sent to the advertisers.”

The advertisers discussed during the meeting included news sources and public classified ad boards used in the area.

The webpage, which is currently in use, will have the bid process available for every potential bidder, as well as a full list of open bid requests.

In preparation for the new process, an email will be sent out to all current vendors, with a confirmation request sent as well, to build a full vendor list for the district.

“We want to reach out to everybody to get a really solid vendor list … so then people will just request to be added in the future,” said Tracy Kaiser, executive director of finance and support.

In the future, bidders will also be notified of the outcome of each bid.

Following the discussion, the change in policy will  be put on the the agenda a vote at the next regular board meeting.