Piggyback

This is a term used in municipal government that loosely means "we're not really going to do our due diligence on a contract, we're just going to copy what another city does". While this is closely related to "best practices" in the case of "piggyback-ing" we're talking about money and more importantly we're talking about cronyism. See, if your business can land a contract with Sandy Springs, the City of Our Envy, you are a shoo-in with Dunwoody. No competitive bid required.

It doesn't matter that the actual bid is significantly different. It doesn't matter that the costs are totally unrelated. Apparently once you are in with the Cabal Of City Managers you are In Like Flint. That's the way this City rolls.

Recently the value of the office of City Manager has been called into question during public comment. Given the abdication of key responsibilities to an engineering firm and the fact that RFQ/RFP-s are de-scoped that question is all the more relevant. Maybe we should outsource that entire office.

Notice, dear voters, the silence coming from our elected Lords and Ladies.