Arizona republican., 1920-02-18

|, secure by taking the matter through 1 the courts to test out the legality of i guaranteed cost bid. A guaranteed 1 cost proposition in which the con | tractor forfeits a large sum in the l event the cost of the work exceeds his I estimated costs in our judgment, is ! the proper system of bidding solely | for the purpose of eliminating an in Hated bid that will without question be submitted on the unit basis, name ] ly so much per square yard or so much
 per mile it is entirely up to the con- tractor to assume all risk under the present condition of the labor stua- tion.
 Two Proposals
 Everything was apparently in line and We were advised by the commits
 sion on February 10 that two pro
 posals would be advertised calling for
 bids. one on the unit basis and one on
 the guaranteed cost basis. on all
 classes of construction
 "On February 14. 1920, the commits
 sion asked us to call on them and on
 that date informed us that the guar anteed cost plus plan would be elim
 mated from proposals as their attor
 ney had rendered an opinion that a contract could not be let on that basis and that when bids were called for nothing but bids on the unit basis would be considered
 We will call your attention to the fact that on February 13, 1920. a meeting of the commission was held and officially closed the admittance of the guaranteed cost bid.
 Explains Plan
 Tn explaining tf6 guaranteed cost plan to you that you may understand it's merits we wish to call to the at tention of every civic body, the public and the taxpayers of this county the n. commission will admit a bid of this kind.
 "A guaranteed cost bid must not be confused with the ordinary cost plus plan of doing work. In the or dinary cost plus plan the more the ceives on his percentage earnings. On the guaranteed cost plan the con tractor is obligated to submit an item ized estimate and working plans show ing in detail every Iitem of cost enter ing into the work, and the method he will pursue in doing the work. This will obliSate a contractor to abSo lutely show in figures that he is thor oughly familiar with the class of work he is bidding upon. As stated before, on the guaranteed cost plan the contractor will obligate himself to forfeit a large sum should the work he is doing exceed. his estimated costs
 
 his estimated costs he is to receive a bonus as compensation for the reduc- tion of the cost of the work.
 Tt is absolutely up to the .commis- sion and its engineers to decide the validity of the contractors estimate and plans and that such estimate as the contractor submits is within a reasonable degree of correctness that the forfeiture and bonus may apply.
 This plan is obviously simple to the layman- On this plan a contractor will endeavor to keep the costs down from paying the forfeiture. He will | strive to do the work below his es- timated costs that he may win the | bonus
 Tt is evident that such plan puts the contractor and the commission on l an equal basis to share the risks that | send a unit contract bid skyward, l where a contractor assumes all risks 1 due 10 the fluctuation of the material | and labor market, which he is justi- | fled in doing on an immense program | such as the one under consideration.
 Plans Prepared
 We have prepared complete set | of working plans, d minute detail esti- l mate showing the actual cost of this 1 work, where every device and method 1 of handling and producing rock and | sand; also the handling of cement | from source of supply and delivered | to the. work at q minimum cost has been considered and figured out. l Therefore we fe>l that as a matter of | justice to the people as well as our | selves that we be heard, so the peo- pie of this county may realize that the | production of nearly one million tons | of rock and sand will be produced and | delivered to the work at the actual | cost of production. Here alone is q saving of $200,000 that would be paid | to contractor as a margin of profit | in the event he produced his rock on a contract basis. We want this coun- ty to save this. We want the people to participate in the savings that are at their finger ends. All we want is . fair profit We do not have to split our profit with any sub b-contractor. We have the equipment we'll as the following of skilled workmen. and we can do the work at such a figure that we feel that we want to help and deliver one of the most admirable pieces of work any community has had he courage to do.
 Do not let anyone destroy the pos sibility of carrying this entire con program to it's greatest ef- 'iciency. Let some large company with its entire organization come here lnd deliver this entire road system n the shortest time possible. We will guarantee to complete this entire sys- em of roads in 24 months
 We will place in escrow with re- 'ponsible bank In this city an item zed estimate, working plans and our id which we will guarantee 10 sub- nit to the Maricopa county highway commission as our ibid if said com mission will agree to accept it as Il , id and in accordance with the law f bidding and that if they will agree O a friendly .suit to test out the le- ality of such q bid. , 'It costs the commission nothing to dvertise and perhaps a little longer . clay may save the community thou ands of dollars. We are not asking anyone fer help. II we ask is a hearing. We want I ou to understand our straight, up s