The Department of Environmental Health is taking steps to replace roughly half of its fleet of heavy equipment and vehicles, issuing a tender seeking bids to procure more than 34 vehicles.
The tender, which has been posted to the public procurement portal Bonfire, is seeking vendors to submit bids to provide vehicles ranging from mid-sized pick-up trucks to skid and front loaders, and forklifts.
The tender is also seeking a medium hybrid SUV and a gas SUV and an industrial shredder that must be able to handle such materials as waste wood, municipal solid waste, industrial waste, construction and demolition waste.
DEH Director Richard Simms, in a comment to the Cayman Compass on the tender, said, “We are in the process of replacing depreciating vehicles to ensure the availability of adequate vehicles to execute the job of the many teams within the department, in addition to the ongoing efforts to expand our operations.”
The cost of the purchase has not been released at the tender is ongoing.
The DEH has a total of 77 heavy and light vehicles assigned for its operations, a department spokesperson confirmed, with an additional seven vehicles which were very old and were salvaged for parts.
“The ages of the vehicles in the existing fleet are between one to 21 years,” the spokesperson said.
At present, seven DEH vehicles are not working and are being repaired.
Last year, the DEH acquired a $730,000 compactor to resume garbage compaction at the George Town landfill after the previous machine broke down in April 2022.
According to the tender documents, bidders must demonstrate they are able to support and provide full coverage of the manufacturer’s warranties including associated parts and labour.
“In addition to the manufacturer’s warranties bidders are required to provide a (4) year service and maintenance plan including parts and labour for the Heavy Equipment and vehicles. The cost of this plan shall be included in the total bid price. Bidders should provide a breakdown of this cost in their respective documentation,” the tender stated.
The deadline for submissions is Friday 5 April with the anticipated execution of the agreement in May.
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Let’s hope the cost of each item of new equipment is properly recorded and documented to assist in the preparation of future audited financial statements.