State contractual services and requiring the exercise of rule-making authority

What it would have done

Summary by the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Legislature's nonpartisan drafting office. It's their wording, not ours.

Currently, the Department of Administration (DOA) or any state agency to which DOA delegates purchasing authority may contract for services if the services can be performed more efficiently or economically by contract than by state employees. This bill generally requires that, if a contract is for more than $50,000, any expenditures of the contractor that exceed the bid by more than 10 percent may be paid only if the agency for which the contractual services are performed notifies the governor and the joint committee on finance the amount by which the cost exceeds the original bid and the reason for the increase. The bill requires the Division of Legal Services in DOA to develop standard performance measures, as well as benchmark indicators, to evaluate services performed by contract for a state agency and to determine what actions taken by the contractor would result in the state agency recovering the expenditures it paid to the contractor.

Under current law, if a state agency for which services are performed concludes that the services were unsatisfactory, the agency must file an evaluation with DOA, and DOA must ensure that future contracts are not awarded to contractors whose past performance was unsatisfactory. The bill adds that a state agency must file an evaluation with DOA if the contractual services are unsatisfactory according to the standard performance measures or benchmark indicators developed by the Division of Legal Services or if the state agency recovers expenditures from the contractor under the guidelines developed by the Division of Legal Services.

Who's behind it

2 senators are its authors⁠. All 2 are Democrats.

4 more lawmakers signed on in support⁠.