The Jefferson County Health Department will get a new mobile wellness vehicle to replace a recreation vehicle that was damaged in an accident last summer.
The Health Department Board of Trustees voted 4-0 on Feb. 22 to award a contract to Craftsman up to $493,034 to buy a 33-foot Ford F53 V8 RV, which should be ready between 210 and 240 days from the award date, said Melissa Parmeley, the department’s clinical services manager. Board member Amber Henry was absent from the meeting.
The new vehicle will include a generator, a Bosch water system, two roof-mounted AC units, awning, wheelchair lift, alarm system, recording camera system and a graphics wrap, Parmeley said.
Since the accident that left the old RV damaged, the Health Department has been using one of its three smaller medical vans, Health Department spokesperson Brianne Zwiener said.
The mobile wellness vehicles are used throughout the county to provide screenings for blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol, as well as for acute and chronic care for medical conditions, and to complete examinations, like sports physicals.
Parmeley said the Health Department will fund the purchase with a $250,000 Jefferson Foundation capital grant it received, as well as with $210,000 from an Expanded Lab Capacity contract through the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services; a $26,884.85 payment from insurance and $6,150 from the sale of the wrecked vehicle.
Parmeley told the Health Department’s Board of Trustees on Feb. 22 that it received nine bids for the RV but only seven bids met the basic proposal expectations.
She said a consultant from Prime RV helped staff review the bids and narrow them down to three companies: Craftsman, Mathews and CT Coachworks.
“(The consultant) offered insight into chassis, structure and proposed systems based on repair and maintenance experience,” Parmeley said.
Because grant funding is being used, staff had to make sure the companies could meet the grants’ requirements, Parmeley said.
“We had to make sure that (the RV, which will be built to the Health Department’s specifications) was going to meet our required timelines for when those funds are available. That narrowed the bids to two possible bids.”
Mathews was eliminated as an option because the company anticipated the timeline would exceed 600 days, she said.
CT Coachworks’ bid with requested options was $407,967 but officials said that price did not include delivery or training expenses. Craftsman’s bid with requested options was $484,300 and includes delivery and training.
“There were a lot of differences in how those were bid,” Parmeley said. “Our recommendation is to award the bid to Craftsman based on the totality of the bid and it being within our current funding availability, as well as it being a local company. That weighed into it because they’re in St. Charles. The other company was across the U.S. (California).”
“This bid was only good for a certain period of time, so I want to make sure that we have all those bases covered because our funding amount is pretty close to the actual amount,” she said.
Zwiener said the department’s previous mobile wellness vehicle, a 2000 Airstream RV, was knocked out of commission last summer when the RV driver swerved to avoid another vehicle, and part of the RV ran off the road, which caused extensive damage to its rear and undercarriage.