Willistown No-Bid is No-Good
What Happened: On April 14th, 2025, Supervisors Robert Lange and William Shoemaker voted to approve a $6.5 million government no-bid contract to build a Public Works Building for the 9 employees of the roads crew.
Why was this Contractor Chosen Without Competitive Bids? According to Lange and Shoemaker, they admit that the construction of the Police Headquarters was badly mismanaged while they were township supervisors in 2015. At the time, they selected a contractor from several competitive bids, which is the normal process. However, because they feared repeating their mistakes with the new Public Works Building, they chose a new approach - the design/build method, which employs a loophole in the government-regulated bidding process. This process allows only one contractor to be selected to bid on the project, without any competitive bidding from other contractors.
The design/build loophole-process costs the taxpayers more money because the selected contractor does not have to compete against other contractors to provide the best price. Additionally, the $6.5 million contract includes only 2 drawings, which are inadequate and incomplete for construction. This makes it impossible to estimate an accurate and competitive price, further obscuring the true cost of the project from the taxpayers.
Request for Action: I urge you to write to Lange and Shoemaker and request that they STOP THE CONTRACT and GET COMPETITIVE BIDS from local contractors. This will ensure that the taxpayers' money is spent responsibly and that the project is awarded to the most qualified and cost-effective contractor.
Sample email:
Dear (William Shoemaker or Robert Lange),
I believe this $6.5M No-Bid government contract will cost the taxpayers more money than it needs to.
When a tree falls down on my property, I call 2 or 3 contractors to get the best price. You should do the same.
Please stop the contract and get competitive bids. This is good stewardship of taxpayer dollars.
Sincerely yours,(you name)
Email to:
RLange@Willistown.pa.us
WShoemaker@Willistown.pa.us
$6.5M No-Bid Government Project - Site Plan Sheet 1/1.
$6.5M No-Bid Government Project - Building Plan - Sheet 1/1