Council to consider $1.7m in no-bid contracts

Bob Sanders at New Hampshire Business Review continues his investigation into no-bid contracts.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

New Hampshire's Executive Council is expected to vote on spending $1.7 million on 18 no-bid contracts when it meets today in Warren.

It will be the first meeting since NHBR published its most recent report on such “sole-source” contracts, which totaled $107 million last year -- a sixfold increase from six years ago. For the first six months of 2009, no-bid contracts accounted for about 10 percent of the total number of contracts approved by the council.

Today, 18 of the 119 items on the council's agenda are labeled as sole source. (more)

State entering sole-source contracts at a record pace

The New Hampshire Business Review takes a look at the increasing number of sole-source state contracts. The competitive bidding process is supposed to insure that taxpayers' money is spent efficiently. But it's hard to protect the taxpayer when there's only one bidder.

By Jennifer T. Yang and Bob Sanders
Friday, September 11, 2009

The state of New Hampshire is increasingly agreeing to enter contracts without putting them out to bid.

The Executive Council approved nearly $107 million in sole-source contracts in 2008, according to data collected from the council's minutes. That's six times the $18 million spent on such contracts in 2002. And in the first six months of this year, the state let out nearly $67 million in no-bid contracts, 63 percent over last year's pace.

“It's disturbing,” said Executive Councilor Deborah Pignatelli, a frequent critic of such contracts and often the only executive councilor to vote against some of them. “Sole-source contracts should be the exception, and not the rule.” (more)

More new N.H. laws take effect

Bob Sanders writes in New Hampshire Business Review about a handful of New Hampshire laws that went into effect this month.

House Bill 270 amends a law primarily aimed at digging up bodies at unmarked graves to cover all human remains, including those being burned in a crematorium or being used for medical research. It doesn’t contain a loophole. It’s just a blanket ban.

In addition, people on a governmental commission would have to step down if they didn’t file a financial form revealing their economic ties. While HB 255 gave the disclosure law more teeth, don’t expect many details. The disclosure requirements are still rather vague.

Finally, those selling any technology to a government agency worth more than $500 must now do so though the state Office of Information Technology, thanks to HB 36.

First round of stimulus funds is quickly putting some people back to work

Bob Sanders reports in the New Hampshire Business Review that New Hampshire is ahead of its neighbors in spending federal stimulus money, especially the NH Department of Transportation:

Indeed, the money is flying out the door so fast, that government regulators have had trouble keeping up with it. The Office of Economic Stimulus has been placing bidding opportunities on its Web site, a hodgepodge of links to other government agencies. It wasn’t until May, at NHBR’s request, that it published a list of who is getting the work.

Of course, New Hampshire is light years ahead of the federal government when it comes to disclosure. Despite President Obama’s assurance that the spending of stimulus money would come with “an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability so that every American will be able to go online and see where and how we're spending every dime,” the federal sites have yet to specify who is getting the money, or how many jobs they will create.

The federal government won’t even require that information until October. Indeed, states can’t even report it to the federal government if they wanted to. The federal Web site, federalreporting.gov, which was supposed to be the portal for the accountability demanded, is still “currently under construction.”

Fortunately, so are some of the roads and bridges in New Hampshire. Most experts expected that the most “shovel-ready” projects would involve building and paving highways, and New Hampshire, where the 10-year highway plan has been a wistful wish list for more than a decade, was ready.

NHBR: Rail Service in NH: "very" shovel-ready

Bob Sanders reports in New Hampshire Business Review that supporters of the proposed commuter rail line from Lowell to Manchester claim that work can be completed within a year:

“All the pieces of the puzzle are on the table,” said Mike Izbicki, interim executive director of New Hampshire Rail Transit Authority. “This is a very real project. This is the closest we’ve ever seen it — a real chance for rail to Manchester and maybe even to Concord.”

“This is very ready,” agreed New Hampshire Department of Transportation Commissioner George Campbell, who estimates that it would take two years for service to be put in place once the money is renewed.

But Dave Fink, president of Pan Am Systems, which owns the track and would presumably be doing most of the “shoveling” is even more optimistic. He thinks the necessary work can be done in a year. According to Fink, it would take a month to order the materials, and, in the current economy, there would be no problem calling back people, or hiring new ones, to do the work.

Rep. Candace Bouchard chairs the House Public Works and Highways Committee, and she adds a comment to the online version of the story:

It is not that I am not a fan of rail. For the stimulus goal of creating jobs, building rail would create jobs. However, I am not convinced that at this time the proposed rail in New Hampshire is the most cost effective alternative to move passenger vehicles off the highways. The decision to use buses on I-93 for a commuter service was the correct one. But I do believe the state has to plan for the future. The Rail Authority is a way to do the needed planning, develop an operating budget and source of revenue. I do have concerns the use of state CMAQ funds are being considered. A lot is said about the success of the Down Easter but it is important to remember that Maine heavily subsidizes that service. It is not that I would rather see the funds spent on east-west highway links, such as upgrading roads between Concord and Portsmouth. What I said was transit - buses. An east -west service would fill a lacking public transportation need.
Representative Candace Bouchard