Ever since the state legislature passed procurement reform, there has been a constant effort to repeal the reforms. This session is no different. State Rep. Jerry Turner, the leader of procurement reform in the House, is in a battle to preserve reverse auctions. Reps. Mark Baker and Donnie Bell are pressuring Speaker of the House Phillip Gunn to repeal mandatory reverse auctions, which many supervisors and municipalities find inconvenient. Turner maintains that reverse auctions have been a proven success and are saving taxpayers millions of dollars through lower bids.
It is true that reverse auctions require more work from the cities and the counties, but that is precisely the point. Reverse auctions are typically conducted with third-party reverse auction companies using online software. This introduces transparency, accountability and oversight to the bidding process. Once cities and counties move past the initial learning curve, the adoption of reverse auctions will be a great benefit to better government. Reverse auctions make crony bidding deals much more difficult to maintain.
It’s not as though Turner has not been accommodating. As it stands, cities and counties can get a waiver for reverse auctions from the newly created state procurement board. The state procurement board has been very lenient in granting such waivers, so cities and counties should have no cause for complaint. In fact, we would like to see a much more independent and professional state procurement board, but that’s another topic. In addition, Turner agreed to allow cities and counties to exempt term contracts from the reverse auction process. Buying asphalt over a three-year period would be an example of a term contract. There really is no reason for such an exemption other than sweetheart deals, but if that’s what it takes to hold the dam on further reform repeals then so be it.
The constant pressure to weaken the modest procurement reforms shows the vulnerability of good-government legislation in our good-old-boy state. Sweetheart deals are rampant and transparency laws strike at the pocketbook of a lot of powerful people. Amendments to weaken procurement reform can be easily sneaked into unrelated legislation. It’s a constant battle. Without two committed reformers, Turner and Sen. John Polk, the reforms would be eviscerated in no time flat. Having a weak statewide newspaper and a decimated capital press corp, contributes to the corruption. You can thank Facebook and Google and the rise of digital advertising for that.
The only real solution is the creation of a truly independent statewide procurement review board that would be an advocate for taxpayers. Such a board could create real procurement standards. Local government’s procurement policies should be subject to review by the statewide board. Currently, most aren’t. The board could also be an advocate for adopting the model procurement law, which has been adopted by dozens of states. A good start would be repealing our state’s archaic “lowest and best” standard and replacing it with the “lowest responsive bidder” standard used by more progressive states.
Unlike local governments, all procurement policies of state agencies are under the review of the new centralized state procurement board. But exemptions are rife. The Mississippi Department of Transportation, the Institutions of Higher Learning and Information and Technology Services are all huge state agencies that are exempt. Each has their own unique procurement policies. This Tower of Babel makes doing business with the state government more difficult and makes good procurement policies less likely, not to mention the basic inefficiency of redundancy.
The problem here is essentially political. Supervisors and city councilors are politically active and have influence. They don’t like state oversight laws. They want to run their own show. When the statewide municipality and supervisors organizations make noise, legislative leaders listen. By the same token, the average voter in Mississippi is outraged by crony contracts and excessive profits inherent in sweetheart deals. It’s a political tightrope, especially in a small, closely-knit state.
Procurement reform is crucial for a cash-strapped state like Mississippi. Without a large metro area to produce tax revenue, Mississippi must be extremely efficient with every dollar. Reverse auctions are a bold step in the right direction. It would be a shame if cronyism wins the day and reverses reverse auction.
