Despite expectations for the revelation of the College's contract with either soft drink supplier Coca-Cola or Pepsi Cola, the announcement of the supplier contract will not be made public for at least another week or two because of concluding negotiations.
Students logged on to the Internet earlier this month to vote for their soft drink preference in a Student Assembly-sponsored election. According to Assembly President Josh Green '00, results of the vote were not released immediately after the vote due to the effect the vote may have on the negotiations with the soft drink companies.
"We'll do our best to release the [contract] as quickly as possible, which should be within the next two weeks. We are hoping negotiations will go real quick. Both companies have been excellent to work with," Director of Purchasing Gregory Husband said.
Although neither Vice President and Treasurer Win Johnson nor Husband were sure of the allocation of payments from the contract, the result will be a multimillion dollar contract over 10 to 15 years.
"We've gotten bids and are dealing with the two bidders and are in the final stages of negotiations. Now we're down to making the final selection," Johnson said. "Whatever new contract goes into effect, we are bound right away, so [there will be] a short transition period - it wouldn't take long in the cafeterias."
The vending machines, however, will be wired to accept Dash and might take more time to update.
No matter the company, the nature of the vended product will change from the 12 ounce aluminum cans to 20 ounce plastic bottles.
While the College was hoping to have the negotiations wrapped up earlier, scheduling difficulties have pushed back the official announcement.
Part of the delay can be attributed to the several months each company's headquarters took to process and clear the original response, Husband said.
Coordinating times to meet with representatives of both companies has also been a challenge. Both companies are being consulted, but since both Coke and Pepsi representatives have been on vacation, personal meetings with the College have been delayed.
It is estimated students will see the change in suppliers between the middle and end of June.
Johnson said that the College is negotiating with each soft drink supplier, and is aware of student interest, but since a bid process is in effect, he could not comment further as to the impact of the recent student poll.
Johnson said that with constant student input, the committee is aware of student preference and hopes the result be a winning proposition all around.
"We've had student representatives working with us on our committee, since the very beginning of the process five months ago," Husband said.
