BRAMNICK ASKS WHY NJ VENDORS NOT GIVEN CHANCE TO BIDAssemblyman Jon Bramnick joined with local office supply store owners Saturday and called on the Corzine administration to rethink its contract with Massachusetts-based Staples Advantage because New Jersey vendors were not given an opportunity to bid on the multi-million dollar contract.“Why weren’t New Jersey businesses given a chance to bid for a New Jersey contract?” asked Bramnick, R-Essex, Morris, Union and Somerset. Al Feldman, owner of Able Office Products in South Plainfield, said his business and 16 others around the state have been supplying state government with paper goods and office products since 2004. As their contracts were winding down this year, Feldman said he and his colleagues were stonewalled by state officials when they asked what was happening.Last week, the New Jersey business owners learned from a posting on the state Treasury Department website that Staples Advantage, which has corporate headquarters in Massachusetts, was awarded the contract through the National Joint Powers Alliance, a cooperative of state and local governments based in Minnesota. The contract with Staples is effective Sept. 1.State Treasurer David Rousseau said on the website announcement that the Staples contract would result in a savings. But the New Jersey vendors dispute his contention since they were never given a chance to compete. Their contracts with the state expire on Aug. 31. These firms are located across the state with offices in Edison, Kenilworth, Lakewood, Lincoln Park, Secaucus and South Plainfield and they employ more than 200 workers.Carl Streko, owner of Supplies-Supplies Inc. of Kenilworth, said he and his colleagues normally receive notices from the state when it is seeking bids on paper and office supplies. No notice was given to the vendors that New Jersey was seeking bids for a new contract, the local business owners said. Instead, they learned last week that the National Joint Powers Alliance advertised for bids in a Minnesota paper only.  The New Jersey firms are part of a National Office Products Alliance. The president of the alliance, Chris Bates, said what is occurring is unjust. “The state completely blind-sided our members,” said Bates. “Because they deliver to the state on one or two days notice, our members have to stock months’ worth of products. Now, they have a significant surplus of products in stock and no customers in a week.”Under state law, contracts can be awarded through cooperatives. But the contract must be the most cost effective. Bramnick said it remains to be proven whether this new contract is the most cost effective because New Jersey businesses were not given a chance to bid.                                               ####