Kansas lawmakers should demand a thorough review of the states rules for awarding no-bid, sole-source contracts.
That message is clear from recent reporting in The Star and Wichita Eagle. During the past eight years, Kansas has authorized $550 million to buy products and services without competitive bids.
The purchases include technical services, consultants advice, software, fuel, even groceries. State officials have approved no-bid purchases more than 1,000 times.
There is no indication of illegality in the purchases, which must first go through an obscure process called prior authorization. But half a billion dollars is a lot of money. Taxpayers deserve to know if theyre getting the best deals possible.
Its the dark underbelly of politics, said state Rep. Jan Kessinger of Overland Park, a Republican and a member of the Appropriations Committee.
When you get all these sole sources of supply, or no-bid contracts, thats just not a good way for the public to have their business conducted, he said.
To be clear: On occasion, all public officials need flexibility to purchase goods and services quickly without a formal bid process. Buying clean-up services after a small flood or fire is a good example.
Seeking bids on low-cost items can sometimes be complicated and counterproductive.
That isnt the case here. The data analyzed includes only no-bid purchases of more than $100,000 a threshold far in excess of any need for speed or convenience in state government.
Some of the no-bid deals include consultant contracts, which deserve special scrutiny.
There may be circumstances in which one firm has a specific expertise that precludes the need for bids. Yet as Kessinger points out, that claim could easily be abused: A state official could simply draw contract requirements to satisfy only one favored bidder, precluding other companies from seeking the work.
Thats why no-bid contracts must be publicized and open to public review. Under current law, no-bid deals in excess of $100,000 must be posted a mere week before the contract is awarded.
That simply isnt enough time.
Requiring bids isnt red tape or mere paperwork. Its a process that leads to the lowest cost and the best possible quality. Competition is the essence of best practices for government purchases, a concept that Kansas officials and all public bodies should remember.
(That includes the federal government, which recently awarded a $10 billion contract to Cerner without a normal bidding process.)
