Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Procurement topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senate committee advances bill to raise county competitive-bid threshold to $35,000
Summary
The Senate City, County & Local Affairs Committee gave a 'do pass' recommendation to SB 456, which would raise the county competitive-bid threshold from $20,000 to $35,000. Supporters cited inflation, material and labor shortages; transparency advocates warned the change could reduce competitive bidding and vendor access.
Senator Stubblefield told the committee that Senate Bill 456 would raise the county competitive-bidding threshold from $20,000 to $35,000, a change he said was needed because the threshold has not been updated since 2007. "All 4 of my county judges in my district ... said that the price of goods and other things have went up so much," Stubblefield said, citing higher costs and delays in getting multiple bids.
The bill drew support from county officials. Doug Irwin, Lonoke County Judge and legislative chair for the county judges association, testified that raising the threshold would increase efficiency and help counties cope with higher prices. "A lot of those products — lumber, metal — have gone up a lot," Irwin said, arguing that a higher threshold better reflects current procurement realities.
Opponents warned the change could curtail transparency and limit vendor competition. Sarah Moore, co-founder of the Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition, asked the committee to vote against raising the ceiling. "Not only are we raising the ceiling on this, from $20,000 to $35,000, but we're also adding in additional goods and services that can be noncompetitively bid," Moore said, pointing to contract-renewal and single-source provisions in the bill.
Committee members debated the appropriate method for adjusting thresholds. Senator Clark said a straight CPI calculation from 2007 would produce a lower figure (roughly $25,080 by his calculation), and asked why the bill set a higher number. Supporters responded that the CPI is a broad consumer index and may not reflect county-specific spikes in construction and fuel costs, and that rural counties face shortages of tradespeople that make obtaining multiple bids difficult.
After discussion, Senator Stubblefield moved that the committee give SB 456 a "do pass" recommendation; Senator Sullivan seconded. The committee voice-voted in favor of the motion, reporting the bill out of committee.
The committee did not adopt additional amendments during the hearing. The bill now proceeds according to Senate rules for further consideration.
