Kansas has authorized 1,000 no-bid contracts worth a half-billion dollars

[TexasTowelie]

TOPEKA -- Kansas agencies skipped the state's competitive bidding process more than 1,000 times over the past eight years, gaining permission to spend $550 million on no-bid contracts and purchases.

The state has approved $115 million in noncompetitive transactions already in 2018, far outpacing the past few years, according to records obtained by The Eagle. A significant chunk involves a controversial Kansas Department of Revenue contract to outsource dozens of jobs.

And records show the Kansas Department of Commerce bypassed competitive bidding to pay the director of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors more than $472,000 since 2011.

The state has used no-bid transactions to do everything from provide medical services to buy groceries. Agencies have sought no-bid contracts totaling more than $4 million for consultants over the past few years, for example.

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article211437184.html

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1. State is full of thieves..

Bypassing certain businesses that aren't their buddy. This is how
kansaas business is like so many other rightwinger screw the
taxpayers states. Competition? Hell, can't water down bids
with competition..

Proponents say sometimes only a single company is capable of doing the work. But others contend more oversight is needed and that more competitive bidding would drive down prices and save tax dollars.

Agencies can skip competitive bidding through a process called prior authorization. That requires the head of the agency and the director of purchases in the Department of Administration to certify that forgoing competitive bidding is in the best interest of the state.

The process leaves companies and individuals interested in competing for the work only a week to object. And they usually don't: Information from the Kansas Department of Administration shows no one protested more than 1,000 transactions that bypassed competitive bidding over the past eight years.