EDISON – The Township Council awarded a contract to Business Automated Technologies (BAT) last Wednesday, fulfilling a state Superior Court order to redo the faulty bidding process for computer services.
Superior Court Judge Robert Longhi ruled on Nov. 16 that the bid process that installed Trikaya Group LLC as the winning bidder for a computer services contract was flawed and ordered the township to rebid the contract within 60 days of the decision.
Trikaya had been on the job since September, and the council had withheld payment to the company until after the bid process could be redone. Trikaya will receive payment of $94,000 for the work done up to this point and will cease work for the township on Jan. 31, when BAT will take over.
BAT filed suit with the township in October, claiming that its bid, which came in substantially lower than Trikaya’s bid of $246,000, should have been enough to secure the contract. Judge Longhi agreed, citing “uncertainties and vague areas” in the bidding process.
“Here we have a flawed process with respect to the bid, there is no question about it,” Longhi said at the Nov. 16 hearing.
Council President Charles Tomaro, who had said that he had not heard any complaints about the work Trikaya had done up until now, was the lone dissenter on the council, voting no to award BAT the contract but voting yes to pay Trikaya the $94,000 they were owed.
He cited comments allegedly coming from BAT about not wanting to work in Edison.
“I have a real problem voting for someone when they say our town is a cesspool and they will never work for it,” Tomaro said.
– Tom Caiazza