ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

Date: June 4, 1999
Author/Local: Susanne Siu/7258
RTS No. 00783
CC File No. 1805

Council: June 22, 1999

TO:	Vancouver City Council
FROM:	General Manager of Engineering Services Manager of Purchasing Services
SUBJECT:	Award of Proposal No. 40-98-01 - Request For Proposal for the Supply, Service and Analysis of Fleet Tires

RECOMMENDATION

THAT Council accept the following proposals as, if and when required for a three-(3) year period from the date of purchase order, subject to contracts satisfactory to the Director of Legal Services:

Fountain Tire, for the supply of new tires, service calls and added value services at an estimated annual cost of $323,128 plus the 7% Goods and Services Tax (less any municipal rebate received), the Provincial Sales Tax, where applicable and the Provincial Environmental Levy, where applicable.

Kal Tire, for the retread and repair of fleet tires and added value services at an estimated annual cost of $172,731 plus the 7% Goods and Services Tax (less any municipal rebate received) and the Provincial Sales Tax, where applicable.

COUNCIL POLICY

The policy of Council is to award contracts for the purchase of equipment, supplies and services that will give the highest value based on quality, service and price.

Contracts with a value over $300,000 are referred to Council.

DISCUSSION

The Request For Proposal ("RFP") for the supply, service and analysis of fleet tires was opened on October 21, 1998, and the responses were referred to the General Manager of Engineering Services and the Manager of Purchasing Services for report.
Funds are provided for in the Fleet Maintenance Accounts.

The RFP requested pricing for the supply of new tires, the provision of service calls and the retread and repair of fleet tires. Value added services such as tire analysis, regular fleet tire review, the monitoring of product performance, technical product training and emergency and catastrophic disaster planning were also requested and taken into consideration for evaluation.

Four proponents responded to the RFP: Fountain Tire, Kal Tire, Trimar Tire Ltd./Midway Tire Ltd. and Michelin North America (Canada) Inc.

Due to the complexity of the requirement in this RFP, the eight members of the evaluation team used Expert Choice, an advanced decision support software system for analysis, synthesis, and justification of decisions, for evaluation. The criteria included overall cost, quality and range of tires including retread and repair of fleet tires, services including inventory and location facilities, and added value services. Both Trimar Tire Ltd./Midway Tire Ltd. and Michelin North America (Canada) Inc. do not meet the City's requirements and consequently, Fountain Tire and Kal Tire were short listed for further evaluation.

These two companies were further evaluated on two categories:

1) product range, cost and service calls and;
2) retreading and repairing of tires.

Retread tires from both companies were outfitted on tandem and tridem axle vehicles for normal operation. The tires from Fountain tire, which utilized a customized retreading process caused a vibration problem , did not comply with the tread width specification and therefore are not acceptable. Kal Tire's retread tires meet specifications and are acceptable.

Since Fountain Tire offered a complete product range and better pricing than Kal Tire, excluding retreads, we are, therefore, recommending that it is in the City's best interest to split the award between both vendors: Fountain Tire for the supply of new tires and service calls and Kal Tire for the supply of retread and repair of fleet tires. Both companies will also provide added value services as specified in the proposal.

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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver