The House on Wednesday approved a bill that would allow local governments to post bid advertisements on a website as well as the required notices in a newspaper.
The House voted 95-0 to approve Senate Bill 409 by Sen. Scott Flippo, R-Mountain Home. The bill now heads to the governor’s desk.
The bill also allows for the electronic submission of bids, instead of the usual required hard-copy documents.
Under SB409, the state procurement office would be tasked with selecting three vendors for local governments to choose from to process online bid notices and submissions. The companies cannot charge for contractors to view the bid notice, but they can require a payment or subscription to view any other documents related to the project.
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SB409 creates a “Public Works Committee” that would meet once a year and prepare a report on the performance of the electronic vendors selected.
The adopted bill had been heavily amended after officials for the Arkansas Press Association and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette objected to the original version that gave local governments the option of posting bid notices on a website instead of in a newspaper.
— Jeannie Roberts