FP&S When only 1 manufacturer makes the equipment

[hinesfire]

Sometimes a single manufacturer is the only source of a piece of equipment to meet our needs. Unfortunately, the equipment costs about $7500, enought to require bids according to the cities procurement folks.
How has anyone else managed thru this situation when only 1 company carries the equipment/prop, they sell thru a manufacturer controlled sales staff, (so no varience on price) and I won't be able to provide the required 3 bids, as per the cities rules. Thoughts?

[LVFD301]

What is the piece of equipment?

[CaptAP69]

My City will allow sole source or single source bids (whichever term you like) when it is proven that there are no others vendors that sell that product or equal or when the manufacturer sells direct.

[hinesfire]

What is the piece of equipment?

Bullex Fire Extinguisher prop

[SLY4420]

Doesn't Kidde make something extremely similar?

[Rescue601]

Doesn't Kidde make something extremely similar?

Yes, they sure do.

http://www.kiddeft.com/utcfs/Templat...%3D385,00.html

[capt4nocfa]

Looks to me like the Kiddie one use actual extinguishers with extinguisher agent that require filling? I dont think the Bullex system has the same requirements

[Limeforever]

Depends on which Bullex system you get. We have the digital system, that you refill the extinguishers with water and air, the new sytem uses a laser so you don't have to refill, less mess, but also less realistic in my opinion.

[hinesfire]

Yep we are interested in the Bullex live fire system using the air/water extinguishers on propane props. Much less mess and cleanup than the dry chemical extinguishers we have been using with a homemade propane prop. Those digital fires just dont seem to me to provide very realistic training for the general public.

[DFDCar1]

We just bought a BullEx Extinguisher Trainer with "unexpended funds" through a grant amendment from our 2007 grant.

We have three qoutes:
BullEx
ProSafe Fire Safety Systems www.prosafefire.com
Halycon Products www.halyconproducts.com

Also, BullEx has several distributers nationally, so they may be able to help you get quotes through competing distributers.

[DFDCar1]

Depends on which Bullex system you get. We have the digital system, that you refill the extinguishers with water and air, the new sytem uses a laser so you don't have to refill, less mess, but also less realistic in my opinion.

Yes, but think about a downtown office environment (especially hi-rise), where you can now conduct fire extinguisher training floor-by-floor, with no mess, and without having to find a nearby suitable location to get people to and from. That aside, we bought the water/air unit. Got a fantastic deal working directly with BullEx (They were an "incubator company", originally in my town, but have since moved into the next county over). We got the demo unit that BullEx took to the various shows last year at a fantastic price. A few scratches, some "burn" on the pan, but otherwise 100% at a greatly reduced price. Toured their new manufacturing facility when I took delivery. Very nice. They have a couple of new products coming out that we will all be "sitting up and taking notice of" soon. Their propane fired handline trainer is one (though I didn't see one in actual use), but I did get to "play" with their new HazMat meter trainer. Now that was a neat tool for realistic hazmat training!