McALLEN — South Texas College is purchasing 400 portable air purifiers for a grand total of $676,800, planning to use the units as a COVID-19 mitigation tool.
Funds for the purchase were earmarked in the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund grant budget.
The purchase, which the board approved Jan. 25, will complement 125 purifiers the college ordered last fall.
Air purifiers have been a frequent big ticket purchase for local educational entities as the COVID-19 pandemic trudges on, although those purchases have led to occasional acrimony.
Those buys are often backed by federal dollars.
STC’s board didn’t approve the purchase unanimously; Trustee Vice Chair Alejo Salinas Jr. voted against the measure, and there was some discussion about the way the new purifiers were being purchased.
Half of the purifiers are being bought from Esparza Pest Control & Eco-Logic Systems Inc. of Edinburg for $297,000, while the other 200 are being purchased from Aberration Inc. doing business as South Texas Solar Systems of McAllen for $379,800.
Out of a dozen bidders, Esparza and Aberration ranked first and second, respectively.
Trustees asked about the discrepancy in cost, about why two vendors were tapped instead of just one and whether splitting the order between two vendors was allowed.
Solis said each vendor was providing purifiers that implement different technology. Although he noted both were “very good units,” he said a committee from the college had found the technology used in one of those types of units isn’t appropriate for laboratory settings.
“So that’s why we recommend to break them down into 200 and 200,” he said.
Esparza is providing the district with CIMR 2000 purifiers, according to materials presented to the board, while Aberration is supplying Ade Air Purifiers.
Salinas, who ultimately voted against the proposal, was wary about that split. He asked questions about the units’ meeting specifications and questioned whether splitting the bid was appropriate, or even legal.
“Never in my experience at this college, 26 years, have I ever experienced where we were splitting a bid,” Salinas said. “Does this comply with the procurement laws and regulations, are we observing all of those?”
The board’s legal counsel, Javier Villalobos, said although the situation was novel, he was comfortable that it wasn’t prohibited.
