By Lexi McFarlane, Times Chronicle
Fire equipment for the Osoyoos Fire Department will be kept up more exclusively through a new purchasing agreement aimed at maintaining standardization, which was approved by Council.
Sole-source purchasing was discussed at the March 10 Regular Council Meeting, with OFD Fire Chief Everett Cook speaking to Council. The request Cook made on behalf of the OFD focused on any future purchases of Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) taking place over the next 10 years.
The OFD achieved standardization of its SCBA inventory back in 2021, when a large capital purchase of 22 SCBA units was approved by Council. Cook noted that it was initially stated no new apparatus had been added to the inventory since, but that three additional SCBA units of the “same type, (and) same inventory” were added on at a later point in time to that capital purchase, bringing the inventory to 25 total.
Cook stated that the OFD wanted to maintain the standardization they had achieved, while being clear with the public about that aim.
“The purpose of our request is to ensure that, under the current purchasing policy, we do not move away from standardization, and that we do maintain transparency with our community, and of course, vendors, on any future purchases,” Cook said.
The request itself would not require any purchases to be made at the current moment.
The intent was more about the OFD doing “pre-emptive” due diligence to streamline the process of future purchases, in addition to mitigating the risk of moving away from standardization. It would also not be a policy change, a distinction made clear by Town staff.
The standardization is also not just specific to Osoyoos, as Councillor Zach Poturica explained, which makes maintaining it even more notable.
“The last time I dealt with standardization of SCBA was about 12, 13 years ago,” Poturica said. “At the time, within the Regional District and our municipal partners… There were only two that stayed away from the preferred vendor of choice; just for very different reasons. But the rest of us all used the same manufacturer that’s currently in place with Osoyoos.”
Councillor Jim King’s concern centred around the length of the proposed agreement.
“You would recommend maybe changing it for five years, instead of ten?” King asked of staff after inquiring about the five-year limit, which only affects budgets. “I could support that; I mean, I support it (regardless); it just seemed like ten years was too long.”
Councillor Johnny Cheong pointed out that, because of the non-impact on budgets, the length of the request wouldn’t be much of an issue.
“This isn’t a budget amendment; it’s just a modification to the current purchasing (process),” Cheong said. “So really, 5 or 10, 15, 20 years. It doesn’t really matter; we’re not making any purchases now, and the budget stays the same.”
Council passed a motion to approve the sole-sourcing purchase agreement, with the original decade-long timeframe being maintained.
