Oksana Carlier/Winonan

Winona State University is moving into the laundry proposal process due to the current contract coming to an end, said the Director of Housing and Residence Life.

Paula Scheevel, the director of housing and residence life, said the current contract was a 7-year agreement with MacGray. Now that that contract is up, Winona State moves into a proposal process.

“The merit of proposal determines who gets it,” Scheevel said, explaining that this is not a bid process, but instead there are criteria to judge each proposal by.

Advertising for proposals goes into the state register, which is essentially a state newspaper. Scheevel explained that vendors interested in working with Winona State monitor the register.

Furthermore, companies who typically do work in residence halls get an email from Winona State, Scheevel said. The contract is advertised from April 15 until the 26 and the proposals are due on May 14.

“If people are considering putting in a proposal, they may want to come to campus and check us out,” Scheevel said, adding that each company will get to ask questions, see if Winona State is the right fit for them, and make sure they are clear on what Winona State is looking for.

Scott Schradle, system administrator and a part of the request for proposal and final selection process, said that the proposal process is long and complex.

“It ensures that all vendors are proposing similar contracts which helps to ensure we are comparing ‘apples to apples’ and everyone gets a fair shot at the contract. It also helps to make sure all costs, obligations and expectations are known up front before the contract is signed,” Schradle said.

After proposals are submitted, Winona State has two weeks to review each of them with rating forms and select the best fit.

Regarding the current contractor, Scheevel said, “It’s more challenging at the end of the term of the contract just because the equipment is older.”

Schradle works to fix any problems with the purple pass machines and mentioned that the current company has been good about letting him know when there is a problem.

Schradle also mentioned that there have been some problems with the machines over the last six years, and he hopes to see improvement with the new contract.

“The new thing for us this time around was the campus card program. Before it had been the coin laundry,” Scheevel said.

Both the coin and card options are available for those who do not want to use purple pass and for the conference group that comes in over the summer.

The cable and television request for proposal process is going on right now as well, Scheevel said. All of these contracts will go into effect on July 1, the beginning of Winona State’s fiscal year. At this time all of the machines will be replaced.

“This allows for a clean slate, a fresh start,” Scheevel said.

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