American Medical Response is the preferred provider for ambulance service in El Paso County.The Emergency Services Agency, which oversees the contract with Greenwood Village-based AMR, was told Wednesday negotiations would commence for a 10-year contract with AMR.The designation of a preferred provider follows a months-long, $40,000 selection process that involved an out-of-state consultant. The consultant fee will be paid by AMR if a contract is successfully negotiated.Although agency officials refused to say how many proposals were received, no other vendors attended Wednesday’s meeting or any ESA meetings in the last several months.AMR was awarded the first 10-year contract in the 1990s after the agency was created to monitor AMR’s performance.”We are very, very happy to have been chosen and look forward to the negotiation process with a great outcome,” said AMR official Ted Sayer. Asked if there was any condition that would cause AMR to back out of contract talks, he said, “There’s always a walk-away point, but I don’t foresee that being part of the process.”Agency chairman Jim Reid said the number of bids would be kept confidential, because, “It’s part of the contracting process.”The contract must be approved by Colorado Springs City Council and the El Paso County board of commissioners.When the selection process took more time than planned, AMR’s existing contract was extended until Jan. 1, 2009.

Rick Chamblee, sales representative for BASF, a chemical company, explained soybean growing to visitors of Kip Cullers’ farm on Wednesday. Cullers makes his growing tactics seem almost deceptively simple. Photo by (AP)