Return of the Commissioner! (former Commissioner)

The Register of Deeds office had an item on the consent agenda---RFP for Imaging Indexes of Real Estate Books project at the Board of Commissioner's meeting tonight. Ultimately, BIS (Business Information Systems) , the selected vendor, was approved by a party line 6-4 vote. It was the first meeting I've attended since becoming ROD.

The item was pulled by Commissioner Winstead. There was a concern about the bid ranges (from $13,000 to 364,000). I explained the differences in vendors proposals and range. While at face the bids cover a broad range, several vendors did not meet the mandatory requirements. The lowest three bidders were discounted due to lack of verification requirements, poor written proposals, and no experience in these kinds of projects even though the RFP was clearly stated.

The high bidder was $364,000 which included a retrieval component not asked for in the RFP. The true range in consideration by our committee was in the $88,000 to $136,000 range. We selected the $136,000 bid- BIS. Although it was not the lowest bid, we feel that it was the "lowest responsible" bid based on our project parameters.

No county funds will be used for the project. The funding will come from our Automated Enhancement Fund designed for technology projects for Register of Deeds' offices created by the NC General Assembly.

I have a true respect for the work done on the other side of the dias Iby Dept. Directors) ...so to speak, after this process. I look forward to working with BIS on this project.

Special thanks to staff from the Deeds office, IS, Purchasing and County who helped us come to a
good decision!