SB 571

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.