Bob Eberhard’s dairy in Redmond has sent milk, ice cream and cottage cheese to locations across Central Oregon since 1951. His company has served nursing home residents, convenience store patrons and Central Oregon Community College students.

Recently, he was hoping to add one more group to that list — Deer Ridge inmates.

Eberhard found out quickly, though, that he couldn’t deal directly with the prison in Madras. Instead, the only way he could get the contract with Deer Ridge Correctional Institution was to apply for a statewide contract. Meaning, he would have to provide milk for all of Oregon’s 14 prisons. And that means his products would first be shipped to Salem before being distributed across the state.

“We looked at the distribution costs. Those are the highest category costs we have in our business,” Eberhard said. “We figured that would be a 260-mile round trip at about $2 a mile … we felt it would be just too high.”

Deer Ridge has long been touted as a boost to the local economy. And in many ways, it’s already delivered. The Jefferson County economy has seen a boost from the prison’s employment, according to Steve Williams, a regional economist from the Oregon Employment Department. But there have been local vendors like Eberhard and Kent Wright, who owns Mail, Copies and More in Madras, who have found they can’t compete with the state’s buying practices.

It’s a tough balance, officials said, between keeping costs down for taxpayers and trying to support local businesses.

“In order to supply certain products, you have to be pretty darn big,” said Parrish Van Wert, the Madras-based community development coordinator for Deer Ridge. “And does that cut out the small business owners? Well, in some cases I think it’s clear that it does.”

In the past two years, the Department of Corrections has served more than 30 million meals, according to Don Charlton, distribution services administrator with DOC. In order to do that and keep costs at under $3 a day, for three meals, Charlton said, it’s a balancing act.

“I’m a taxpayer, too, and I’m not going to waste taxpayers’ money,” Charlton said. “But I’m also a La Grande boy, and I like to buy local.”

There are also safety issues to be considered, Charlton said. There are DOC warehouses placed throughout the state — Ontario, Umatilla, Lakeview — where products are shipped and inspected to make sure there isn’t any contraband in the packages.

Vendors can’t deliver directly to an institution unless they’ve already been inspected at one of the warehouses.

“When you are looking at buying any goods, foods, inmates clothing, uniforms for correctional officers, we have a warehouse system established across the state at strategic locations … and it exists for the safety of our institution,” Charlton said.

Better in bulk

The bottom line, though, said Dianne Lancaster, chief procurement officer with the Oregon Department of Administrative Services, is when bids are solicited statewide, they can get a better price if they buy in bulk and have long-term contracts.

“By and large, with something basic like office supplies, food stuff, toilet paper, janitorial supplies, it benefits to buy from an enterprise approach,” she said. “That’s when my office gets involved and puts out a solicitation for statewide response.”

But there is room for exceptions, she said.

“When there are fresh and perishable food items that an agency needs and it’s more difficult to do on an enterprise basis, there is an Oregon administrative rule that recognizes this and allows for … purchasing food stuff on a one-time basis,” she said. “Fresh produce is the most common, or if it’s lettuce or potato season.”

And Charlton said he’s taken advantage of these exceptions.

“We do have a slot program, we’ll have a farmer out of Ontario contact us and say, ‘I have a huge crop, and I’ll give it to you for x’ and we’ll take it,” he said.

But for vendors like Wright and Eberhard, those statewide contracts have already been filled — by Alpenrose Dairy, headquartered in Portland, and OfficeMax, which has warehouses in Portland.

“We’re all sensitive to what you’re saying,” Lancaster said. “There is no question that purchasing people anguish about this.”

Charlton said food costs are climbing, and the budgets aren’t.

“Oregon Legislature under state law has not chosen to give (local vendors) preference points, and that makes a big difference,” he said. “It’s not something the DOC can control.”

Van Wert said it’s an issue worthy of more discussion.

“We need to really look at when does it make sense to pay a little more locally and keep the money circulating within the local economy,” he said.