MIFFLINBURG — The subcontractor replacing a pair of roofs on Mifflinburg schools is coming from Lewistown, just 40 miles away. Before the project got to him, however, the job went through three quasi-governmental agencies to a company in Ohio, which then got to pick who would do the work.

The price: $12.11 per square foot. For the 47,000-square-foot job, the Mifflinburg Area School District will pay $569,517.

The subcontractor, David M. Maines Associates Inc., won't get that much. Chuck Maines declined Friday to say how much they are to get, but roofing in the area, despite some variables, averages about $8 a square foot, according to Mifflinburg roofing contractor Max Bossert, a former Union County commissioner.

Bossert is replacing the Round Hill Elementary School roof in Williamsport with the same 0.6 millimeter rubber product called for in the Mifflinburg schools contract. He's doing it for $8.04 per square foot. The 33,120-square-foot job will cost the Williamsport Area School District $266,370.

The difference might be the middle men.

Williamsport bid the job directly and competitively. There were 11 bidders, Bossert said.

In Mifflinburg, there was only one, or none, depending on how you look at it.

The school roofing contract is between the Ohio firm, Weatherproofing Technologies Inc., a subsidiary of Tremco, and the Mifflinburg school board, and despite three referral agencies — the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit, a Montandon-based educational-related service agency, the Pennsylvania Education Joint Purchasing Council, and its national affiliate, the Association of Educational Purchasing Agencies — there was only one contractor to pick from.

Once Mifflinburg decided to go through the CSIU, the only contractor possible was the one selected by the Association of Educational Purchasing Agencies three years earlier.

'They do it all for us'

Mifflinburg school board President Jill Shambach said this method was chosen because it was a big job and "they do it all for us." They, in this case, being the CSIU. The attraction was the "turnkey" service.

Bossert and other roofing specialists, including representatives from the manufacturer of Carlisle roofing products, say all the "service" add-ons are unnecessary fluff. All roofers provide warranties and inspections. In fact, in Mifflinburg, Weatherproofing Technologies is inspecting its own subcontractor. State law calls for inspection by an "independent" architect or engineer.

It also calls for open bidding, current with the time of the contract, according to state Department of Education spokeswoman Leah Harris.

Weatherproofing Technologies Inc. was chosen as the Association of Educational Purchasing Agencies' roofing provider in 2008 after it qualified under a 101-page bid specifications document. It was the only firm that met the criteria and, critics say, the only one that could have because of the way the specifications were written.

"It was a proprietary bid," charged Michael DuCharme, director of product marketing for Carlisle Construction Materials in Carlisle.

Administrative fee

To be in this club, currently of one, Weatherproofing Technologies must pay a 1.5 percent administrative fee to the CSIU for each job the Association of Educational Purchasing Agencies throws its way. For the Mifflinburg job, CSIU will net about $8,500.

The school district also pays $250 per year to be a member of the Pennsylvania Education Joint Purchasing Council and its contract with the council stipulates it pay a 1 percent fee on purchases it makes through the council "of certain items." It was not known at press time if this applies to the roofing contract.

While the school district pays these premiums for convenience, competing roofing contractors say the system is tantamount to bid-rigging because only one company can meet its requirements, including that it be qualified to work in 23 states.

The joint purchasing route used in Mifflinburg eliminates a lot of local roofers, Bossert asserts, because they can't realistically be licensed and available in 23 states.

"That could be a problem for some contractors," acknowledged Chuck Peterson, cooperative business services director at CSIU.

Point system at fault?

Other requirements of the generic bid that lead to inevitably to Weatherproofing Technologies, critics say, are in its point system.

"One hundred and eighty-nine points are given for ability to do masonry," DuCharme said.

Roofers don't normally do masonry, he said, but Weatherproofing Technologies does. "It's skewed based on how they award the points."

Peterson said the 101 pages of specifications are necessary because they apply to many types of roofs in many locales.

"It's not our intention to have this lead to only one contractor," he said. "I believe the AEPA does not have that intention. If there are parts that lead to one contractor, I would pledge to work to eliminate that."

Peterson said the square foot cost of the Weatherproofing Technologies contract guarantees no change orders. This eliminates a roofing contractor who will "find" additional work is necessary and that will add to the price, he said.

Quality sells program

In the past 10 years, he said, there hasn't been one Association of Educational Purchasing Agencies job that was criticized for poor workmanship.

"It's the quality of the job that sells this program," Peterson said.

Ducharme from Carlisle Roofing has a different explanation

"It's just laziness" that sells the program, DuCharme said, "to public officials who don't want to do the work they were elected to do. And the taxpayers pay."

Peterson said: "You can't just look at this as 'What did I pay for it on the day it was done?' The true measure is how many years of leak-free environment."

All roofing with warranty

Bossert and DuCharme both say that's a specious argument because all roofing work comes with warranties. If a roofer has 36 years on the job, as Bossert does, he's doing good work, DuCharme said.

Bossert sticks with his earlier assessment that Mifflinburg schools are paying twice as much as need be for roofing.

"You're not comparing apples and apples," Peterson said.

Peterson said CSIU's joint purchasing service is just in the "tool box" for school districts that want to use it. He also insists it follows Pennsylvania state procurement law.

DuCharme said it continues to interest the state attorney general's office.

"If there was a problem, the state would have stopped it a long time ago," Peterson said.

While you're trying to analyze it all, DuCharme said, "They will bury you in complexity."

Do you need 101 pages of specifications to select a roofer?

Sunbury officials don't think so. With just 138 words, the city of Sunbury put out an invitation to bid on roofing its city hall.

Eight bids were received in May. They ranged from $4.54 to $7.92 per square foot. The city hired the low bidder. It will get a 0.9 millimeter rubber roof .

That's even one-third thicker.