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Committee sends procurement overhaul to House floor with due-pass recommendation
Summary
House Bill 301, sponsored by Representative Raybould, would add procurement-stage requirements including budget‑stage market estimates for line items over $250,000, mandatory intent‑to‑solicit notices and a tightening of solicitation timelines; the committee voted to send the bill to the floor with a due-pass recommendation.
Representative Bridal Raybould (District 34) described House Bill 301 to the House State Affairs Committee as an effort to tighten the state procurement timeline and improve budgetary estimates before appropriation. Raybould said the measure grew from conversations with agencies and his cosponsor, Senator Cook, after noticing budget line items submitted without market-based estimates.
Key provisions described by Raybould include a requirement that agencies include a market‑based estimate for any budget line item over $250,000 (obtainable through a request for information or request for quote) at the time of budget submission. The bill would also require a completed draft request for proposal (RFP) to be available at that stage in order to shorten the lag between appropriation and solicitation posting.
For solicitations, Raybould outlined a new “intent to solicit” posting: for newly‑appropriated items the Division of Purchasing would post within 10 days of an appropriation becoming law; for renewals or non‑appropriation procurements, an intent-to-solicit would be posted one month before the solicitation. The bill sets a default solicitation response period of up to 60 days for bidders, a 60‑day review window for the state with an optional 30‑day extension (requiring administrator approval and vendor notice), and a five‑day window to award a contract after review.
Raybould said the timeline would be appended where third‑party processes (for example, CMS for Medicaid contracts) require additional review, and the bill clarifies multiple awards, vendor technical assistance rules, a cooling‑off period for elected officials and state employees, and reporting of vendor-paid expenses. The sponsor said the bill’s implementation date would be July 1, 2026; Representative Mickelson moved to send HB 301 to the floor with a due‑pass recommendation and the committee carried the motion.
