Maryland state officials approved a $72 million contract to buy six Medevac helicopters on Wednesday.
The state’s Board of Public Works awarded the contract to Philadelphia-based Agusta Aerospace Corp., the only bidder that offered to provide the helicopters.
State Comptroller Peter Franchot voted in favor of the contract but called the Maryland Department of Transportation’s procurement process a “failure.”
“Sitting from my standpoint, it’s a mystery why we only ended up with one bid,” Franchot said. He added it would be hard justify whether the state landed the best deal when only one bidder came forward.
“For such a lucrative contract and such a competitive industry, why did we just have one envelope?” Franchot asked. “It just amazes me.”
Transportation officials said the state’s requirements for the new helicopters were so stringent that no other company could meet them.
The new choppers will begin to replace the state’s aging 11-copter fleet that was purchased during the 1990s. Police and rescue officials began pushing for new helicopters after a crash in September 2008 that killed four people.
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley used the opportunity — two days before early voting begins as he faces a rematch against former governor Bob Ehrlich — to highlight his cuts to state spending and wax poetic on saving lives.
“Leadership is about more than simply budget cuts and balancing the budget,” O’Malley said after detailing his cuts to the state budget, maintenance of a triple A bond rating and job creation. “We never know when it might be our daughter, our son, our wife or husband that’s one of those human lives being pulled from a crumpled wreck on the side of the street taken into a field and rushed by Medevac to shock trauma in that golden hour.”
The contract gives the state the option to purchase six more helicopters for $11.7 million each over the next three years.
