Revelstoke-based Rev Software owner Shane McCallum is disappointed his local business didn’t win the contract to design the City of Revelstoke’s new website.
McCallum said he didn’t even hear back from the city about his proposal. “Nothing,” he told the Times Review -- until he phoned up himself and heard he was disqualified at an early stage.
McCallum has since relocated to Salmon Arm where he’s taken a job in the computing field.
“From the people of Revelstoke’s perspective there’s a big ‘buy local’ push ... so the fact that no local or regional companies to my knowledge made it to the point where they got to even present their proposals, or pitch their proposals, definitely comes off a little strange.”
McCallum says he felt if he didn’t get the contract he’d likely lose out to a specialist company, which is what successful bidder Kansas-based Civic Plus is -- they design civic websites.
McCallum, however, was upset at media reports that stated local bids for the contract were double the successful bidder’s price. McCallum provided a copy of his proposal, which totalled $19,990, about the same as the successful $20,000 bid from Kansas.
In their presentation, city staff didn’t say the local bid was double and say they were misquoted. Deputy director of finance Tania McCabe said she’d asked for a clarification.
A few pointed questions about this particular matter, and city policies on ‘buy local’ initiatives in general, should be enough to get to the bottom of the matter. The Times Review did submit a list of questions in writing last week to Mayor of Revelstoke David Raven and city CAO Tim Palmer last week.
The mayor responded by e-mail on Monday, saying Palmer was most suited to answer. We hadn’t heard from Palmer by press time, but will follow up this week.