Panel rejects procurement-law overhaul

An overhaul of the state's procurement laws died in a House committee Wednesday after engineers, architects and attorneys lined up to say the measure would invite shoddy work.

The current laws -- which set out the procedure for the state to enter into contracts with outside private services -- do not require officials to take into account price as much as they should, said Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana.

He said his proposal, Senate Bill 521, would require that pricing be considered in requests for qualifications, and that it play an even bigger factor in requests for proposals. The proposed law also would limit the length of multiyear contracts. A request for proposals is made for companies to bid on jobs. A request for qualifications is done when looking for a company that has the expertise to do the work.

Hickey was one of several lawmakers who raised questions earlier this year over the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery's five-year, $34.5 million advertising and marketing contract with CJRW, a Little Rock firm.

Asked if his bill, filed a little over a week after the contract was eventually executed, was a response to the lottery's procurement, Hickey said his concerns over the process were "all inclusive."

When considered in the Senate, Hickey said the objections from industry groups, namely architects, engineers and surveyors, led him to amend the bill to delay its implementation until June 2019.

In the meantime, lawmakers could study whether the requirements in SB521 are the best way to to revamp the procurement system, Hickey said. Passing the law now would give lawmakers the upper hand in subsequent negotiations over the rules, he said.

But on Tuesday, representatives from those concerned groups showed up at the state Capitol and told lawmakers they were still unhappy with the proposal. After their testimony, the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee rejected the bill on a voice vote.

"You don't want the cheapest engineer designing your bridges, you don't want the cheapest attorney doing your legal services," said Byron Hicks, chairman of McLelland Consulting Engineers Inc. in Little Rock.

Brooks Jackson, the president of the state Board of Architects, Landscape Architects and Interior Designers, said Hickey's proposal would create an "unethical" bidding process that is not procedure in any other state.

Rep. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, said passing the law would give Arkansas one of the best procurement procedures.

Hickey said he was trying to get taxpayers the best bang for their buck.

After the bill failed, Hickey said he would go back to the Senate and adopt it into a study to be conducted over the next two years. That would allow lawmakers to return in 2019 and take a more thorough look at making changes, he said.

A Section on 03/30/2017

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