This week, the Senate passed Senate Bill 69, amending the Management and Budget Act. Under the bill as passed, it would provide that certain records related to purchasing and contract by the Department of Technology, Management and Budget (DTMB) would be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
This could be a game changer for vendors doing business with the State of Michigan. Currently, when a bid is submitted to the state, those documents are subject to FOIA. This means that a competitor may see bids submitted before an evaluation has been completed by the state. According to DTMB, this puts the state at a disadvantage when attempting to negotiate contracts because all of the pricing and bidder specifications have been made public. Also, the state cannot protect trade secrets, financial or proprietary information under FOIA, because the information is submitted as part of receiving a government contract. In the past, this has prevented many vendors from participating in the state bid process.
There is also the other side from a vendor’s perspective. Do vendors lose some of the transparency that many feel they have gained through the FOIA process? Also, does the state really lose the ability to negotiate? It is hard to say. According to DTMB, twenty-two other states have laws that prohibit the disclosure of bids until a contract has been entered into. Also, according to DTMB, forty-one states and the Federal government protect privacy of trade secrets, proprietary or financial information.
The bill has been referred to the House Michigan Competitiveness Committee for consideration. MLC will keep you up-to-date on the status of SB 69 as it moves through the House. In the meantime, if you have any questions concerning this legislation or about doing business with the State of Michigan, please feel free to contact me, as I serve as the MLC Procurement Specialist.
Michigan Legislative Consultants is a bipartisan lobbying firm based in Lansing, Michigan. Our team of lobbyists and procurement specialists provide a wide range of services for some of the most respected companies in America. For more on MLC, visit www.mlcmi.com or connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
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