White’s Tire officials have every right to feel vindicated by the release last week of a legislative consultant’s report on tire retreading. They shouldn’t expect an apology, although one is warranted.

Legislators allied with White’s competitors had excoriated the Wilson company, which has held the state retreading contract for 27 years, suggesting that it was awarded bids somehow unfairly and that its bead-to-bead retread process was unsafe. Unable to outlaw the bead-to-bead process — and thereby disqualify White’s from state contracts — legislators paid a consultant to examine the retread process and contracts and report back to the General Assembly. Originally due last summer, the report was finally delivered last week.

The consultants’ conclusion? White’s bead-to-bead retreads are every bit as good as competitors, and in some ways better. All the available processes provide quality at a low cost per mile. And White’s customers, in particular, are delighted with the quality of their products.

This is not what White’s rivals and their legislative minions had hoped for. The report gives high grades to White’s, both in quality and in economy.

In a just world, this would be the end of the school bus retread controversy, but this is not about the tire business, it’s about politics. Although vindicated by the study by consultants chosen by the legislators who had tried to revoke the state contracts White’s had won in competitive bidding, White’s may still have to fight off surreptitious attacks. Attempts to disqualify White’s bead-to-bead process, despite the consultant’s report, could continue. Other sly contract specifications could be used to put White’s at a disadvantage.

The public must not allow that to happen. The consultant suggests that fewer, not more, specifications be included in the state’s requests for bids. The state’s more detailed specifications could hinder technological advancements and hamper competition, the consultant said. Simplifying retread specifications and allowing the tire market to determine best practices would be a wise move for the state.

Legislators need to stay out of bid specifications in this and other state contracts. And competitors in the retread business should be told by legislators that if they want to beat White’s, they must do so in a fair bidding process, not in legislative back rooms.

— The Wilson Daily Times