Lingle leads talks The state needs to tweak its procurement laws and change the public's perception of how government nonbid contracts are awarded.
on state contract bids
Changing the laws would restore
public confidence in state governmentBy Pat Omandam
pomandam@starbulletin.comThat was the consensus yesterday following a procurement workshop hosted by Gov. Linda Lingle's administration and attended by many business associations and companies involved in the state purchasing process.
Lingle told the group of about 50 people that their suggestions regarding procurement will serve as the foundation for restoring the public's trust in state government.
"We made a commitment to the public to clean up this system, to make it right and open and fair to all companies and fair to taxpayers," Lingle said.
State Comptroller Russ Saito said after the three-hour meeting yesterday that there need to be some minor changes to the existing procurement law.
For example, one change would be on who ranks bidders for professional services contracts, which are contracts for services from architects, engineers and consultants.
The changes would not affect contracts put out to bid, such as construction contracts, where the lowest bidder is awarded the job.
Current state law says a selection committee sends a short list of contractors to a decision-maker, usually a department head, who ranks the companies and then chooses the top one.
Saito said he would like the law changed so the selection committee also ranks the bids. The decision-maker would then select the top-ranked bidder and negotiate a contract. If talks break down, the state would move down the list, he said.
"We think that's fair, and it eliminates or minimizes completely the notion of favoritism or selection on some basis other than merit," Saito said.
Attendee Bruce Coppa, of the Pacific Resource Partnership, which represents private and unionized Hawaii carpenters, agreed the procurement law needs only minor changes. He added that the state Department of Accounting & General Services needs to market itself more so the public understands the process.
"Any process can always use tweaking, but I think, if anything, if people don't understand it, people are going to question it," Coppa said.
Saito said DAGS intends to promote transparency by listing all the contracts on a user-friendly Web site that will be linked to the state's Web site at www.ehawaiigov.org.
The site will contain all the pertinent information about the process, including who bid on the contracts and why one vendor was selected over another.
"We're just going to make it easier for people to know where the information is and how to get there faster," Saito said.
Meanwhile, Lingle held her first meeting yesterday with most of her Cabinet. She still has four major appointments remaining to round out her top administration team. She expects to announce two of them Tuesday, a day before the opening of the legislative session.
Lingle gives her first State of the State address at 10 a.m. on Jan. 21 at the state Capitol.
Department of Accounting & General Services
State of Hawaii
