Senate State Affairs Committee accepts rewrite of Idaho purchasing rules, removes 'invitation to negotiate'

At a meeting of the Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee, the panel accepted Docket 38-0501-2401, a comprehensive rewrite of the rules governing state purchasing that removes the invitation-to-negotiate, or ITN, process and reorganizes procurement language to better align with statutory authority.

The rule rewrite, presented by Valerie Bollinger, administrator of the Division of Purchasing in the Department of Administration, is intended to remove ITNs from rule, tie provisions more clearly to statute and simplify or remove explanatory language. "We began our review and development of the pending rule in front of you with three overarching goals: to remove the ITN process from rule as intended by the legislature, to review and ensure that the rules were firmly based in authority granted by statute and aligned with…