California government is big, and it buys a lot of things. Actually, in government-lingo it is called ‘procurement’ and I wonder if many FR readers know that there is an entire department (the Department of General Services) that is responsible for spending vast amounts of taxpayer dollars on items ranging from batteries to tires, from signs to floor tiles, from fencing to fertilizer. If you think about it, every computer used by a state employee and every car owned by the state had to be purchased. (You can see a big list of the kinds of things purchased by your state government here).
To be honest with you, I had never heard of the Department of General Services until I was recently talking to an FR friend who told me about an interesting situation… Just think, for your home you might spend a few hundred dollars for bedding. Now, pretend you are the State of California, where you have to buy bedding for tens of thousands of beds (just thing of all of the inmates in our state prisons). When you start to multiply that out — it is big business, and big bucks.
Well, right now the state is in the midst of reviewing bids for millions of dollars in…bedding! As a 
matter of fact, there are two companies competing to provide pillow cases and bed sheets for your government. Care to guess the ballpark of the bids? Well, based on what I heard, we’re talking close to four MILLION over a two year period — that’s a LOT of bedding! Fortunately there are two companies bidding, which means that the free-market system helps to keep pricing competitive, which is good news for California taxpayers. That said, in this instance, as I have found out, you really have ended up with two bids that are within 2% of one another. It gets a tad technical, with two parts to the bid, and such. But that’s the bottom line.
That said, and the reason why I am really even bringing any of this to your attention is simply this — one of companies bidding on this work, American Textile Systems, is from Cerritos, in Los Angeles County. The other company, Tabb Textiles, is located in Opelika, Alabama. Now as a good libertarian, I am all about getting the best possible deal for the dollar where our tax monies our concerned. But once you start to get into very marginal differences, I think that it is fair to prioritize giving state business to CALIFORNIA companies! (By the way, when you total up the bids, including a trip through the complex formula for crediting this and that, it’s actually the California firm that is the (slightly) lower overall low bidder.)
**There is more – click the link**
June 21st, 2007 at 12:00 am
If its a red state I dont mind.
June 21st, 2007 at 12:00 am
Why not create a provision within the procurement process that weighs bids on a point system with additional points awarded to California companies. Say an extra point or two for in-state and a minus point for out of state.Well paying jobs for Californians should be at the top of the list for the governor and the legislature. Not ticketing talking teens or punishing pet owners.