Fifteen City Vehicles in the car and light truck class are scheduled for replacement in the City’s Equipment Replacement Program and were approved by City Council during the FY 15-16 budget process. Staff advertised for sealed bids for city vehicles on September 17 and September 24, 2015 with a bid opening on September 29, 2015.
 

The bids are for the following types of vehicles:

• Three full size 4x4 SUV’s (Airport)

• Two mid-size sedans (Police & Building)

• One compact SUV with snow plow (Parks)

• One small cargo van (PW Belknap)

• One ¾ ton 4x4 regular cab pickup (Solid Waste)

• Two ¾ ton 4x4 regular cab pickups with utility bodies (PW Belknap)

• Two mid-size 4x4 extended cab pickups (PW Belknap)

• One ¾ ton 4x4 extended cab pickup with utility body (PW Belknap)

• One 1- ton 4x4 regular cab pickup with snow plow & sander (Street)

• One 1-ton 2wd dump truck (Street)

• Approve the purchases of vehicles from the low bidders or;
• Disapprove the purchases and reject all bids.

The City received 5 bids on the vehicles as outlined on the attached “Vehicle Bid Results.”

Staff recommends retaining two of the twelve vehicles offered for trade and selling them at auction because the dealer trade allowance for these two vehicles was only $3,500 while the trade-in book value is $5,073 for the two vehicles. Staff recommends trading ten of the trade vehicles because the dealer trade allowance was $24,900 while the trade-in book value was $24,833 for the ten vehicles.

Staff recommends awarding all Bid Schedules to the lowest bidder, as follows. Bid schedules 1 & 2 with trades to Archie Cochrane Ford, in Billings, Mt for the bid amount of $148,405.00; Bid Schedules 3 & 7 with trades to Billion Auto Group, in Bozeman, Mt for the bid amount of $77,982.00; Bid Schedule 5 with trade to Denny Menholt Chevrolet, in Billings, Mt for the bid amount of $26,869.20; Bid Schedules 4 & 9 with trades and Bid Schedules 6, 8 & 10 without trades to Bison Motors in Great Falls, Mt for the bid amount of $208,244.37.