Is it worth $330k to fire the Humane Society?

Color me puzzled. In last Sunday's Trib, I read this article. Apparently, the city is re-competing its requirements for animal control and operation of the animal shelter.

The city received two bids, one from the Humane Society for $186 thousand, and one from the Police Department for $516 thousand. The Humane Society is the incumbent contractor.

What confounds me is that with a $330 thousand difference in bids received, the city is not automatically awarding the contract to the incumbent contractor who is also the low bid. Instead, the city has given a copy of the Humane Society's bid to the Police Department (by the by, the other bidder for that contract) for their critique. Is this really how things are (or should be) done? Has the Police Department's bid been given to the Humane Society for their critique?

Now, I freely admit that I haven't paid a great deal of attention to how the Humane Society is doing in their operation of these functions in recent years. I adopted my dog from the shelter several years ago, and found it to be a rather depressing and underfunded place -- but run by caring and dedicated people. In any case, many citizens in Great Falls are attempting to build a new shelter, funded through private donations. In any case, the status of the old, city-owned building is not something that should be blamed on the Humane Society.

If the city awards this contract to the GFPD for $330 thousand more than the next lowest bid, then they will certainly have to explain why it is worth a third of a million dollars to give this additional work to the police department.