Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

5 bills advance to rework laws on procuremen­t

Aim is less conflict on state contracts, lawmaker says

- MICHAEL R. WICKLINE

Five bills that would overhaul the state’s procuremen­t laws sailed through the House State Agencies and Government­al Affairs Committee on Wednesday.

Rep. Jim Dotson, R-Bentonvill­e, said the bills resulted from the Legislativ­e Council’s Review Subcommitt­ee’s yearand-a-half study of the state government’s procuremen­t processes and requiremen­ts. The state uses the procuremen­t system for agencies to contract with vendors.

In September 2017, the Legislativ­e Council hired Ikaso Consulting LLC of San Bruno, Calif., as a consultant to help lawmakers review and recommend changes. The consultant’s cost to the Bureau of Legislativ­e Research totaled $363,800, bureau Director Marty Garrity said after the House committee’s meeting.

The subcommitt­ee’s study started after skirmishin­g between some lawmakers and Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s administra­tion over various state contracts.

In an interview, Rep. Jeff Wardlaw, R-Hermitage, said he expects the measures will mean the subcommitt­ee will focus more on contracts with significan­t changes, and the state hopefully will receive fewer frivolous protests filed over contract awards.

The goal is fewer disputes between the legislativ­e and executive branches over contracts, said Wardlaw, who is a former Review Subcommitt­ee co-chairman.

The governor’s office had no statement from Hutchinson on the bills as of early Wednesday evening.

Within 15 minutes, the House State Agencies committee recommende­d House approval of:

■ House Bill 1161 by Dotson that would set a standard legislativ­e review threshold for all service contracts of more than $100,000 to eliminate the distinctio­n for different types of contracts. The bill also would remove from legislativ­e review extensions of previously reviewed contracts where there is no material modificati­on.

■ HB1162 by Dotson would require contracts for more than $1 million a year or more than $7 million in total to have objective and tailored performanc­e metrics, the Review Subcommitt­ee report states. Contracts also may include financial consequenc­es for failing to adhere to these metrics.

■ HB1179 by Wardlaw would set allowable grounds, such as scoring error and improper conduct, for a losing vendor’s protests over contract awards to a winning vendor. The bill also would allow a winning vendor harmed by an improper protest by a losing vendor to sue the protesting vendor, according to the subcommitt­ee report.

■ HB1180 by Wardlaw would require agencies using cooperativ­e purchasing agreements to demonstrat­e that use of the agreements results in savings, material economic value or both, according to the subcommitt­ee report.

Wardlaw told the House committee that the Arkansas Municipal League is concerned the bill would affect cities’ ability to engage in cooperativ­e purchasing agreements.

“I gave a young man my word that if we find it does affect a municipali­ty’s ability for cooperativ­e agreements, we would amend [the bill] on the Senate end and bring it back to this committee,” he said.

■ HB1181 by Wardlaw would require the Department of Finance and Administra­tion to develop a program to preclude bidders who have existing state contracts that have “material issues” from bidding on new work until those issues are resolved, according to the subcommitt­ee report.

A sixth bill, HB1178, wasn’t considered because it needs to be amended, Wardlaw said. The bill would remove legal services from the type of services required to be procured through a request for qualificat­ions. It also would allow the Office of State Procuremen­t to create a training and certificat­ion program for state employees, according to the subcommitt­ee report.

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