East Brunswick Sets Prequalification Regulations For Ice Rink Bid

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ – On Monday, East Brunswick adopted a resolution introducing prequalification regulations for the indoor ice rink bid.

Due to the “highly specialized” nature of the local public contracts law, NJ requires that the municipality wishing to prequalify bidders must adopt prequalification regulations after first conducting a public hearing on the issue, Township attorney Anthony Iacocca said.

One of the prequalification requirements is that the bidder must have successfully completed ice-related work on three indoor ice rink projects per calendar year, on average.

Councilman James Wendell asked the attorney how township officials came up with the number of projects required for prequalification.

Iacocca responded saying it was based on discussions with the Township's professionals and the ice rink consultants for this project.

However, Wendell felt that the number was too limiting.

“I think three a year over the past three years is too limiting, especially coming out of COVID. Don't get me wrong, we want a qualified person who has done ice rinks before. But if we're limiting ourselves to someone who's done nine rinks over the past three years, I think it's too restrictive," Wendell said.

Responding to Wendell, Mayor Brad Cohen said that township officials did their research and spoke with industry experts.

“The reason that we're doing that is because there are many people out there who claim to have experience in this. And in instances, many of which are very local. The most important part of building an ice rink is the ice, the refrigeration the system,” Cohen said.

“Only a handful of the people in this country have done that many. And it was their recommendation, the recommendation of our independent consultant and our own engineers, that there should be a number that could reasonably be able to illuminate the people who have done very little and will put us at risk of not having it done in a manner that is professional and long-lasting.”

Cohen said the prequalification requirement was in place to ensure that those who didn’t have the experience did not bid on the contract.

“As you know, in local public contracting, the township is required to take the lowest responsible bidder. And that often is not the most responsible,” Cohen explained.

“It's the lowest, but it's not always the most responsible. And in particular, Woodbridge, which is another public skating rink, made that mistake a couple of years ago and had to completely redo their ice. So, we do not want to make that mistake.”

Council president Kevin McEvoy agreed with both Wendell and Cohen saying, that if the ice rink was not done properly East Brunswick would become a laughingstock and it would be a waste of investment.

The resolution was adopted unanimously.

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