Auditor seeks added oversight after disputed $2.5M no‑bid contract; bill would notify auditor of emergency awards
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Summary
LB 9‑97 would require agencies to submit emergency (no‑bid) contract notification forms to the State Auditor in addition to the Department of Administrative Services. Auditor Mike Foley cited roughly 20 such contracts yearly and said a recent $2.5M contract lacked required justification and raised concerns including backdating.
Senator Bob Anderson introduced LB 9‑97 at the request of the State Auditor to require that agencies file emergency procurement forms with the Auditor of Public Accounts as well as the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) when they execute a no‑bid emergency contract.
Auditor Mike Foley said emergency, no‑bid contracts are rare — roughly 20 a year in Nebraska — but merit tighter oversight. He cited a recent roughly $2.5 million emergency contract that, in his office’s review, lacked completed justification on the required form and that a final report had been filed late and appeared backdated. "That would be like waving a red flag at me," Foley told the committee, saying a copy of the form and the contract would prompt follow‑up questions about the nature and timing of the emergency.
DAS Director Lee Will said DAS supports LB 9‑97; DAS is the repository for emergency procurement notices and maintains the public contract database. Will described reforms and internal checks DAS is implementing to ensure justification forms are complete and filed on time, and noted that contracts and procurement records are publicly accessible in the state’s contract database.
Committee members pressed the auditor and DAS about the limits of their authority: neither office can cancel a completed contract, but the auditor said his office would review, audit and, where appropriate, refer matters to county attorneys, the attorney general, the state patrol or disciplinary bodies. Witnesses discussed the statutory standards that permit emergency contracting (urgent or unexpected needs, public health/public safety risk, or conservation of public resources) and the practical constraints for procurement timelines when legislation imposes short deadlines.
Foley said the change is not designed to require auditor approval — only prompt notification so his office can monitor for misuse. Several committee members, including Senator Kavanaugh, framed the bill as a modest governance step to put emergency awards on the auditor’s radar and asked about thresholds and timelines; Foley and DAS staff answered technical questions about the filing process. Senator Anderson said LB 9‑97 is a common‑sense transparency measure and asked the committee to advance the bill.