During the past several months, i have been involved with three fire departments that were purchasing fire apparatus. Two of the departments advertised and received public bids; the third provided specifications to a few manufacturers for pricing. The three apparatus exceeded budget expectations and required specification adjustments and, in two cases, a rebid.rnSome of the comments I heard about exceeding the budget were, "Why are we over budget? We always specified apparatus that came in under budget." What was the reason for the shock and disbelief when the bids were opened?
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