Modesto awarded $3.7 million contract without following normal bidding rules

But spokesman Sean McMorris with the good-government group Common Cause California said in an interview that if Modesto believes Rank Investigation & Protection is the best company, then the city should have proved it by having it compete through a request for proposals. “If this is the best person for the job,” he said, “they still will get the contract if it goes out to an RFP.” McMorris said there is no justifiable reason for a city not to issue a large contract through a request for proposals or other formal competitive process that will draw a lot of responses, giving a city a full range of companies to evaluate before picking one.