AMBULANCE SERVICE BIDS OFFER SAVINGS

JACKSON - For the first time since it began providing a subsidy for emergency ambulance service in 1965, the Cape Girardeau County Commission decided this year to bid the contract.

Two bids were received Monday, and it appears that Cape County Private Ambulance Service will continue to serve the county for at least three more years.

The bid figures also suggest that for the first time since the county began paying a subsidy, the costs of providing that will decline in each of the next three years.

Cape County Ambulance submitted a bid of $168,000 for 1992, which is $12,000 less than the present subsidy. There are two option years the county commission may exercise, which would reduce the subsidy to $156,000 in 1993 and $144,000 in 1994.

Gateway Medical Transport Services of St. Louis submitted two options for the commission to consider, with one costing $550,000 a year and the second, $315,000. Under the second option, the company would be able to earn bonuses based on response times.

Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep said the commission would take its time making a final decision, since the current contract does not expire until Dec. 31.

"This is not going to be a quick process," Huckstep told representatives of the two bidders. "We will have a detailed analysis and then make a recommendation."

The commission presented explicit bid specifications that asked companies to discuss response times, equipment, training of personnel, financial condition and other items.

The specifications also require the firm with the contract to have telephone recording equipment that logs the time calls are made to the service. Another requirement is that the firm provide aggregate liability insurance of $3 million.

Huckstep explained the county had not bid the ambulance contract before because no other firms had expressed an interest. But over a year ago, Gateway approached the commission and asked for an opportunity to bid on the contract. Ambulance services in Memphis and Southwest Missouri had also expressed some interest in bidding, but did not do so.

Another reason for seeking bids, is that members of the county commission were hoping to reduce the amount of subsidy it pays for the service. Cape Girardeau County is one of the few counties that pays the subsidy from general revenue. In most counties, ambulance di~stricts have been established and are funded by property tax levies.

"We are certainly reaching the upper end of the spectrum of what we can afford," said Huckstep. "It paid for us to bid it; anyway you cut it, we saved money."