Lawmakers should tighten the rules under which competitive bidding requirements can be waived, to ensure the state gets the lowest price for services, the state’s public auditors recommend.
Auditors Kevin P. Johnston and Robert G. Jaekle wrote in their annual report to the General Assembly that waiver options involving instructional and research activities, or when a contractor with “special capabilities or experience” is needed, be eliminated.
The report doesn’t cite any waivers approved by Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s administration, but does note that exemptions tied to the “special capabilities or experience” waiver often are made.
“Because this is an overly broad condition that could conceivably be argued to exist for any personal services agreement that is entered into with a contractor somewhat experienced in a given field, its use may limit competition and effectively override attempts by the General Assembly to restrict the use of waivers from competitive bidding,” the auditors wrote.
“Ultimately, whenever a competitive bid process is not used by a state agency when entering into a personal services agreement, it cannot be determined if the state agency received the most favorable prices for the services being contracted for.”
The changes proposed by the auditors still would allow competitive bidding to be waived if:
• The cost of bidding would outweigh the savings.
• Services are being sought from a proprietor who offers them exclusively.
• The legislature specifies that the administration must hire a specific contractor.
• Emergency services involving public safety are being acquired.
Rell’s budget agency, the Office of Policy and Management, declined to comment this week.
State contracting standards were under a bright spotlight when Rell took office in July 2004, as her predecessor, John G. Rowland, resigned amid an impeachment inquiry and a bid-rigging scandal that landed him in a federal prison for 10 months. Rowland admitted he took some $100,000 in gifts from state contractors in exchange for access to his office.
After years of negotiations, Rell, a Republican, and the Democrat-controlled legislature settled on a “clean contracting” bill in 2007. That measure requires government to conduct a detailed cost-benefit analysis before privatizing services now performed by state workers, provided the anticipated private contract would cost more than $150 million.
It also mandated creation of a 14-member Contracting Standards Board that was supposed to be appointed and running by Jan. 1, 2010, but the administration hasn’t completed all of its appointments.
