Legislator seeks procurement changes after state NEMT award; community action agencies urge consideration of local impact

Representative Bill Birgio asked the Health and Human Services Committee on Thursday to examine whether state procurement scoring should incorporate the community benefit and local economic effect of large non‑emergency medical transportation (NEMT) contracts.

Sponsor's concern Birgio told the committee he received appeals from local community action agencies that the recent statewide NEMT contract award to an out‑of‑state vendor threatens revenue streams that CAAs use to fund a range of local programs. "What prompts LD 1125 is a decision by DHHS to award a large contract for non emergency medical transportation services throughout the state to a single entity based out of state at the expense of an important program revenue source for our own state cap agencies," Birgio said.

CAA testimony and rationale Will Hayward, speaking for the Maine Community Action Partnership, described CAAs as locally embedded organizations that blend multiple funding streams to operate coordinated local transportation services, volunteer networks and other supports. He and other CAA representatives urged the committee to allow scoring criteria that recognize local community relationships and economies when awarding large contracts.

Procurement and Department concerns Representatives from the Department of Administrative and Financial Services cautioned that inserting a statutory preference for CAAs into procurement scoring could run afoul of procurement law and federal requirements. Deputy Commissioner Anya Trundy told the committee procurement is designed to preserve competition, fairness and best value; she warned that advantaging a bidder type by statute would reduce competition and could lead to appeals and reduced value for the state.

Committee questions and next steps Committee members asked the department and sponsor to explore concrete scoring approaches and to identify whether there are lawful ways to recognize local community benefits within the procurement framework. The committee also asked for examples from other states and for the department's procurement metrics and historical appeal data.

Ending No vote was taken. The department agreed to provide procurement information and the committee signaled interest in an approach that balances competition with local service continuity.