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State fairgrounds' animal-feed contract awarded

Posted December 12, 2007 10:00 pm

Dana Heupel

A Murrayville company has won the right to supply animal feed and bedding for participants at Illinois State Fairgrounds events.

Evans Cartage was the winning bidder for the contract, which was awarded last week. Unlike most other state contracts, the selected vendor pays the state for the right to be the exclusive provider of those commodities.

The Illinois Department of Agriculture, which operates the fairgrounds, decided last summer to put the contract out for bid instead of retaining a no-bid contract it had for 22 years with Mitchell Feed & Bedding. At that time, Bill Mitchell, the owner of the company, said he would not submit a bid because the contract specifications required the winner to provide what he considered proprietary business information to state government.

No one submitted an offer for the contract during a first round of bidding. Evans Cartage and Mitchell Feed & Bedding were the only two bidders during a second round, according to agriculture department spokesman Jeff Squibb.

Evans Cartage offered to pay the state $12,500 a year to rent a building at the fairgrounds, $2,500 more than Mitchell's bid, Squibb said. Evans also offered $1,500 a year for the right to be the exclusive bidder, while Mitchell did not offer anything, he said.

Both bidders also offered to pay the state 25 cents per bag of pine shavings sold for animal bedding, and Evans also offered 1 percent of the gross sales for feed, straw and hay, he said.

"It's the best deal for the Department of Agriculture," Squibb said.

Neither Mitchell nor Evans Cartage owner Rex Evans could be reached for comment.

Evans Cartage already has a contract for manure removal at the fairgrounds, Squibb said. The new feed and bedding contract, which is a one-year agreement with three one-year renewal options, will become effective Jan. 1.

Dana Heupel can be reached at (217) 788-1518 or dana.heupel@sj-r.com.

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