One rule for us and another for them

magnumlady

So we aren't allowed to shop in Northern Ireland but the Chamber have employed a firm from Northern Ireland to help them sort out the retail problems:
http://www.sligotoday.ie/details.php?id=8228

Xiney

:rolleyes: typical

Xiney

ps Sligo Today's typographic layout is getting more and more difficult to follow. I ended up just kind of skimming through the last 2/3 of that article because there were too many things breaking it up all over the place.

IvyTheTerrible

Typical. This is the same chamber of Commerce that when the Connaughton Road carpark was free before Christmas, they sent memos to all the offices in town saying that the workers weren't allowed to park there during that time. Even though it's those workers that had paid parking all year.

Essexboy

Don't do as I do, do as I say! :rolleyes:

blackiebest

I was at the SOS meeting in the Glasshouse last week. I listened to Fergal Burke speak and speak well at that. I am absolutely dumbfounded at this story. It is staggering that within a week of the meeting he could preside over such a farce. They are hiring a Northern Irish firm to come to Sligo to help business here to dissuade people from cross boarder shopping.

This is giving me a headache, what kind of people run the institutions within this state?

Culchie

Yeh, to be honest, I don't take too much heed to alot of the unwarranted flak thrown at the CoC, however on this occassion they have got it badly wrong.

Big own goal. There is plenty of required expertise around Sligo for this project.

T-Bird

On the pessimistic side, they could have thought that if they looked local it might be full of the same old local traders providing the same old ideas:(.

This post reminded me of what they did in Cavan Link last year for their shop local campaign hehe.

forgingfool

I'm sick of so called marketing experts. Money is always found to hire them but no money can be found to actually do something that would have an effect.

I could have told them that organizing a food festival then waiting until four days before the event opened to tell people they would have to provide their own public liability insurance, would have the effect of no one turning up to take a stall. And then to have a sign above empty stalls saying "So Sligo" would have a negative effect. Something this marketing company it would seem could not.

Buford T Justice

Well, as far as I'm concerned the COC can go and feck itself. I'm not interested in anything that they have to say to me about where i should or shouldn't spend my money.

They've had the monopoly for long enough and stood in the way of progression in Sligo enough times, they can have a taste of their own medicine if you ask me.

Son Of A Vidic

Drop prices, stop robbing us and provide some decent service and then maybe their retail trade may pick up. It's high time Sligo's little mafia was broken up because their strangling the life out of the town.

AlmightyCushion

They had to do this. The EU brought in rules and laws for the tendering process to prevent buy national policies and to open it up to competition. They have to award it to the best tender regardless of where in the EU they are from. Note that best contract doesn't always mean cheapest, it could be awarded to a more expensive contract if the more expensive contact was better in other regards. But they can't choose a contractor simply because they are Irish if there is a better contract out there. If they had they could face legal proceedings being taken against them by one of the contractors who felt they were unfairly chosen.

While I agree it's a but hypocritical their hands were tied here.

Xiney

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

They had to do this. The EU brought in rules and laws for the tendering process to prevent buy national policies and to open it up to competition. They have to award it to the best tender regardless of where in the EU they are from. Note that best contract doesn't always mean cheapest, it could be awarded to a more expensive contract if the more expensive contact was better in other regards. But they can't choose a contractor simply because they are Irish if there is a better contract out there. If they had they could face legal proceedings being taken against them by one of the contractors who felt they were unfairly chosen.

While I agree it's a but hypocritical their hands were tied here.

Are the tenders public?

Since it's not just judged on best price, it's got some degree of subjectivity, no? So they could have gone with the local contract and said that their local knowledge was important if anyone got their belgian knickers in a twist...

AlmightyCushion

Xiney wrote: »

Are the tenders public?

I assume so.

Xiney wrote: »

Since it's not just judged on best price, it's got some degree of subjectivity, no? So they could have gone with the local contract and said that their local knowledge was important if anyone got their belgian knickers in a twist...

Well there is some subjectivity but if they were challenged on it then they'd have to prove that the local contractor's product was superior. If they had a tangible benefit then that's fairly easy. e.g. If they were ordering a new computer system and one was faster but more expensive than the other then it is superior to the other tender in a way other than price and it's fairly easy to show that. If they were buying a new fleet of cars and the more expensive tender had better fuel consumption, then they could argue that they would have lower running costs over the life of the cars and hence that's why they went with that.

Better local knowledge though isn't as tangible or obvious a benefit and thus would be harder to defend. Plus I imagine saying they have better local knowledge is seen as an excuse just to use a local contractor. If someone said they picked the other guy because they have better local knowledge I know that's what I'd be thinking anyways.

Xiney

Yeah... I guess.

Still looks bad though, in this case.

magnumlady

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

They had to do this. The EU brought in rules and laws for the tendering process to prevent buy national policies and to open it up to competition. They have to award it to the best tender regardless of where in the EU they are from. Note that best contract doesn't always mean cheapest, it could be awarded to a more expensive contract if the more expensive contact was better in other regards. But they can't choose a contractor simply because they are Irish if there is a better contract out there. If they had they could face legal proceedings being taken against them by one of the contractors who felt they were unfairly chosen.

While I agree it's a but hypocritical their hands were tied here.

Was it put to tender though? I thought it was decided as a result of the meeting in the Glasshouse....if so there wasn't time to put it to tender.