Philly City Council moving toward more transparent purchasing bids

A Philadelphia City Council Committee has approved a bill to modernize the city’s purchasing system.   A new online component will show just why someone won the bid. 

The plan is to use a number of factors other than just the dollars and cents to make a final decision on bids. 

Rebecca Rhynhart Philadelphia’s Chief Administrative Officer says it would make the bidding for city work more equitable.

“What often happens when you are looking at price alone in a bid is that past performance such as being on time and on budget are not taken into consideration,” she said. “Workforce diversity and other factors are not taken into consideration.”City Councilman Bobby Henon says for transparency, the city will have to “show its work.””It posts the reasons why they were selected and hold them live on line   for the public to see so you can get more competition,” he said.If the proposed change to the city charter  is approved, it will be put to a voter referendum, possibly as soon as May.