Efforts to generate more competitiveness in state contracting are paying off, yielding better deals for state agencies and saving taxpayer dollars in the process, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) said on Wednesday.
But within minutes of making his proclamation, at the twice-monthly meeting of the contract-approving Board of Public Works, Hogan found himself defending a staff request to extend a state employee health plan with the current vendor, industry giant KaiserPermanente.
Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D) said the request, to allow for two two-year renewal options of Kaiser’s current contract, smacked of the “incumbent vendor protection program,” in which agencies seek to retain a current contractor, rather than “test the genius of the marketplace” by seeking bids from outside firms.
Hogan opened Wednesday’s voting session with praise for state procurement officials “for achieving an 86 percent reduction in the number of single-bid contracts brought before this body over the last five fiscal years. That deserves a big round of applause.”
“In the year before I became governor, the previous board approved 93 single-bid contracts, most of them over the objections of the comptroller,” Hogan added. “In fiscal year 2019, the number was brought down to 13.”
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Bruce DePuyt over at Maryland Matters