Wayland Historical Commission rejects sole bidder on vital records conservation

WAYLAND — August 20, 2025 — Wayland Historical Commission sends $100,000 vital records RFP back to the town. The commission voted 6-0 Wednesday to withhold approval of the sole bid received on a town clerk's project to conserve birth, marriage and death registers and other records more than 50 years old, funded at Annual Town Meeting "subject to the advance approval" of the commission. Acting chair Katherine Gardner-Westcott said the proposal from a firm identified as CoFile did not document technician training, named a salesperson as lead project manager, and silently dropped the standard 300-mile vendor radius. A competing firm told her the RFP "so obviously was written with a particular vendor in mind" that bidding would be a waste. Member Ann Gordon, who drafted the motion, said "a process where you only get one proposal is not a good process." The commission also unanimously backed Housing Authority interior window inserts at 130 Tomlworth Road and a roughly $10,000 CPA-funded interpretive sign for the rehabilitated Stonebridge.