Reasonable contractor standards

Last fall, the Maine State Housing Authority approved a set of contractor standards which it would consider and weigh in the awarding of its contracts for the building of housing, particularly low-income housing, and other projects it awards taxpayer money for.

No sooner were these standard adopted when a small, but influential group – the Maine Chamber of Commerce, the Paper Information Office, The Maine Chapter of the NIFB and others – cried foul and claimed the standards were too much influence on the part of a government agency. They now seek to reverse the authority’s decision.

It should go without saying that the people of Maine, and for that matter people around our great nation, have every right to expect that public funds derived from their tax dollars, should be expended on worthy, worthwhile, socially purposeful, beneficial, and constructive purposes. Moreover, such expenditures, in keeping with stated national and state public policy, are expected to be applied in the most beneficial and responsible manner and ultimately in the best public interest.

It is precisely this public interest that has been the foundation for so many policies including but not limited to minimum wage, and prevailing wage provisions, equal employment opportunities, and minority contractor provisions.

In a word, our public policy has sought to garner the greatest and most widespread good from our limited public resources. It has been clearly recognized and widely accepted that we not only want to provide for our defense, health and education, well being and safety, but also to improve the overall social and economic health of our nation.

Thus, policy has sought to insure that not only would we build hospitals and bridges, schools and highways, but we as a people would seek to extend the benefit of such projects by setting standards for both the works themselves, and the workers as well. The idea again, is that public funds should generate the biggest bang for the buck – including raising standards of living, improving health care opportunities for all and helping to eliminate poverty and ameliorate all the ills associated with that condition.

Economists often refer to the “multiplier effect,” when discussing the economic impact of some program or policy. What we know is that assuring adequate compensation, and securing the provision of the generally accepted array of benefits, means that we improve the lot of everyone – individuals, businesses that rely on the economic well-being of their consumers, communities, states, our society and the nation as a whole.

Maine’s Millennium Commission on Hunger and Food Security acknowledged this reality when it recommended in 2002 that the Legislature adopt a “Responsible Employer Statute,” covering the awarding of public contracts for goods and services. We cannot build a strong, vibrant and vital economy by selling pizzas to one another. Nor should public policy provide an avenue toward a slippery slide to the bottom of the economic barrel in the name of “getting the best deal,” or the lowest bid.

The people deserve better than the lowest bid and all that it has come to represent. That is why the Building Trades Council supports the MSHA’s initiative to set and provide for reasonable and beneficial standards for contractors to follow. Apart from providing economic and social benefit to our state as a whole, the establishment of standards assures that the bid process does not undermine other vital goals and has the added benefit of having a clear set of rules by which all contractors can determine their costs and prepare their submissions accordingly.

I am not suggesting we give away the store in supporting the proposed standards. Rather, I believe the adoption of such standards promote the general betterment and welfare of our citizenry, enhance the economic climate of our state, and establish private sector means with public sector help to expand meaningful access and real coverage to health care, and housing, education and retirement opportunities, and to build a better, more solid future for those who are to follow – our children and our children’s children.

Moreover, it should be noted that MSHA’s standards are consistent with and actually promote other areas of public policy approved and advanced by the Maine Legislature, including encouraging greater coverage of healthcare for all Mainers.

The Maine State Housing Authority’s policies, contractor standards, environmental standards and energy standards should be endorsed, retained and expanded to other areas of our economy. In that way, not only will each of us be taxpayers, but beneficiaries as well.

John R. Hanson is a resident of Bangor who serves as the executive director of the Maine State Building and Construction Trades Council.