PEER Releases Report on State Purchasing Practices

The Legislative PEER Committee is releasing its report titled State Government Purchasing: A Review of Recent Statutory Changes.

MISS. CODE ANN. Section 5-3-72 (1972) requires the PEER Committee to evaluate on a biennial basis the procurement process used by all state agencies, including, but not limited to, the contract review, reporting, recordkeeping, and bidding requirements contained in state law.

Some of the Committee’s major findings include:

• House Bill 1106 and House Bill 1109 (2017 Regular Session) amended state procurement law by:
• • requiring agencies and governing authorities to make electronic bid submissions an option for competitive procurements;
  • abolishing the Personal Service Contract Review Board and transferring its responsibilities to the Public Procurement Review Board (PPRB);
  • establishing procurement best practices; and
  • making reverse auctions the default method to be used by all agencies and governing authorities (except institutions of higher learning) for procuring commodities and certain other items or services in excess of $50,000.
• H.B. 1106 and H.B. 1109 significantly changed the purview of the PPRB by making purchases of governing authorities—e.g., counties, cities—subject to review and/or approval by the board.
• The PPRB’s monthly meeting schedule requires purchasing entities—i.e., agencies and governing authorities—to adhere to strict deadlines when submitting procurement requests to the board.  The approval of the PPRB and adherence to the board’s meeting schedule has increased the time necessary to procure commodities, equipment, and personal services.
• Since enactment of H.B. 1106 and H.B. 1109, there is a general perception among officials of public purchasing entities surveyed by PEER that processing time associated with procurements and prices paid have increased, while vendor participation has tended to decrease.

Read the full report here.

Release from the Legislative PEER Committee.