Committee approves rewrite of state purchasing rules; ITN process removed from draft

Valerie Bollinger, Administrator of the Division of Purchasing in the Idaho Department of Administration, told the committee she was presenting a "rewrite of the chapter governing purchasing for the state," noting the changes respond to the Legislature's prior rejection of several rules and the stated intent to eliminate the invitation-to-negotiate (ITN) process. "Though the rule of rejection did not take effect, the division honored the legislature's intent and has not issued any new ITNs," Bollinger said.

Bollinger said the rewrite aims to align rules with statutory authority, remove redundant or explanatory language, reorganize sections, and clarify terms. Key changes discussed in the hearing included removing definitions and references to competitive negotiation and ITNs; adding a tie-response provision to a definitions section; narrowing parameters for exempt purchases; moving and tightening the rules on price agreements; and restructuring evaluation and award language to more closely mirror Idaho Code.

Lawmakers pressed for clarification on several points. Representative Crane asked why language about public bid openings was removed; Bollinger said the rule-language was redundant because the statutory requirement already exists and that the redraft returns practice to public in-person openings where statute requires it. On "important business need" for exemptions, Bollinger gave an operational example: after a wildfire the Department of Fish and Game might need to buy hay quickly to keep wildlife from crossing roads, creating a public-safety reason to expedite purchases and rely on quotes rather than a full competitive process.

Several legislators asked about evaluation criteria. Bollinger said explicit references to "expertise" were removed from the list of responsibility criteria because expertise is typically evaluated and scored within technical proposals during an RFP process; responsibility determinations are intended to be more objective (for example, financial stability). She said awarding to the "lowest responsible bidder" remains a statutory requirement and the scoring process used for RFPs already accommodates assessments of quality and expertise.

Bollinger also described procedural safeguards for post-evaluation negotiations: use of negotiations would require administrator approval and procurement staff generally do not act as program evaluators, which Bollinger said reduces the risk of favoritism. She told the committee the division receives appeals or challenges to procurements but estimated "probably had 5 or 6 challenges" in the past year; she said the division either defends or corrects process errors when they occur.

Representative Vito Barbieri moved to accept the pending rule docket for the Division of Purchasing; the committee adopted the motion by voice vote. Bollinger provided a crosswalk linking the rule language to Idaho Code and said the division used negotiated rulemaking, public meetings and a formal hearing as part of the process.