Commissioner finds Grade MBE eggs too pricey

You've got your Grade AA eggs, your Grade A eggs, and your Grade B eggs.

And, at least in Cook County, you've got your Grade MBE/WBE eggs, which come in prices of $40,000 for a six-month supply - more than double the regular price of $34,000 for a dozen-month supply.

If you're confused, you're in good company. Cook County Commissioner Tim Schneider is too.

The Bartlett Republican tried unsuccessfully to derail a contract extension that had the county paying $40,000 to extend for just six months a contract for egg products at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, when that very same vendor, Finer Foods of Chicago, had also offered to supply eggs to the county for a year for just $34,000. Putting those figures in perspective, not only would the year contract have been cheaper upfront, but it also would have been cheaper in the long run. The per-month price was $6,667 under the contract extension, and just $2,833 under a yearly contract.

So why, Schneider wanted to know, were Cook County administrators recommending taking the sucker's buy?

The answer, it turns out, is two part: a preference for following the county's established bidding rules and the desire to include minority firms in county contracts.

Purchasing Agent Carmen Triche Colvin explained that the county had put out the bid for egg products twice, only to have Finer Foods twice be the sole respondent. The county then disqualified the bid, ruling it did not comply with county bidding procedures requiring a Minority Business Enterprise/Women Business Enterprise (MBE/WBE) participation. The county will now rebid the contract.

But in the meantime, the juvenile center still needs eggs, so the county had to extend the existing contract, at a higher-than-original rate, she said.

An apoplectic Schneider protested that the original company now found not compliant, was the very same company getting the extension. If it wasn't compliant now, how did it get the contract in the first place?

"Do you see how ridiculous this is?" protested Schneider.

"Every contract stands on its own," said Betty Hancock Perry, the county's compliance administrator. While the company may have been compliant in its first bid, it may not have been on its second bid.

But "it's the same company! It's the same company," protested Schneider.

"This is about abiding by our rules or not abiding by our rules," said Commissioner Mario Moreno, riding to Finer Foods' defense. The company, at 3100 W. 36th St., has given $6,450 to Moreno in campaign donations over the past five years.

Despite Schneider's protestations, the extension of the contract passed.

"We are going to have egg on our face," said Schneider, tongue planted firmly in cheek.