Committee approves comprehensive rewrite of state purchasing rules; ITN process removed

Valerie Bollinger, Administrator of the Division of Purchasing in the Department of Administration, presented a comprehensive rewrite of the state's purchasing rules organized under docket number 808012401. Bollinger told the committee that the rewrite aims to remove the invitation-to-negotiate (ITN) process consistent with the legislature’s prior rejection of that rule and to better align rules with statutory authority.

Bollinger said the changes included removing definitions determined unnecessary, moving and simplifying provisions on tie responses, narrowing parameters for exempt purchases, relocating price-agreement language, and reorganizing bid- and proposal-related sections for clarity. “The legislature voted last year to reject several of the rules in IDAPA 30 eight-five-one in order to eliminate the invitation to negotiate or ITN process,” she said. “Though the rule of rejection did not take effect, the division honored the legislature's intent and has not issued any new ITNs.”

Committee members asked detailed questions about several provisions. On exempt purchases, Bollinger used an operational example: “the Department of Fish and Game at times has asked an exemption to buy, hay for, to be able to, when there's been a wildfire, the concern is that wildlife will cross the road to get to food because the food that they normally would eat has burned. So they provide hay to try to keep the wildlife on 1 side of the road for primarily for human safety reasons.” She said agencies typically are required to secure quotes for such quick purchases but not follow the full formal procurement process.

Lawmakers asked about bid openings and why some language was removed; Bollinger explained the committee had removed language duplicative of statute, and the change was not intended to end public in-person bid openings. On evaluation and award language, Bollinger said she struck wording that restated statutory requirements because the statute already requires awarding to the “lowest responsible and responsive bidder.” She added that for complex procurements scoring is used and “the lowest responsible bidder is the high point responsible bidder.”

Members also raised concerns about preserving evaluation of expertise in scoring. Bollinger said expertise is typically evaluated within proposals and scored on rubrics; responsibility determinations are different and tend to be pass/fail issues such as financial stability.

Bollinger outlined the division’s outreach: negotiated rulemaking, online posting, quarterly agency meetings, a general meeting in October and a public hearing in November; the division received a few questions from lobbyists but no formal public comments. She said the division provided a crosswalk document to show how the rule aligns with Idaho code.

Representative Vito Barbieri moved to accept docket 808012401; the committee approved the motion by voice vote. The transcript records appreciation from committee members for the crosswalk and for Bollinger’s presentation. No roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript.

The accepted rule package removes references to ITNs, clarifies brand-name-or-equal procedures (requiring administrator approval for brand-name-only specifications), consolidates and simplifies several sections, and relocates tie-response and price-agreement provisions. The Division of Purchasing will proceed with rule filing consistent with the committee’s acceptance.