An Act To Protect Taxpayers by Regulating Personal Services Contracts

Sec. 1. 5 MRSA §1813-B  is enacted to read:

§ 1813-B.  Cost-savings information available through the Internet

The Director of the Bureau of General Services shall make cost-savings information for the award winners of all competitively bid contracts for services for the State available through the department's publicly accessible site on the Internet. For a contract with a new contractor, the cost-savings information must, where applicable, include projected savings of the contract over the State's costs of providing the same service and include the amount of savings over the previous contractor's contract. For a contract with a contractor renewing or extending a contract for the first time, the cost-savings information must, where applicable, include details of cost-savings for the expiring contract over the previous contractor's costs and details of continued cost-savings at or below costs in the current contract adjusted for inflation. For a contract with a contractor renewing or extending a contract beyond a first renewal or extension, the cost-savings information must include details on continued cost-savings at or below costs in the current contract adjusted for inflation. The Director of the Bureau of General Services shall coordinate with all departments and agencies in the State to ensure the collection of the cost-savings information described in this section. The Director of the Bureau of General Services, with the approval of the Commissioner of Administrative and Financial Services, shall establish by rule practices and procedures to make the cost-savings information available on the department's publicly accessible site on the Internet. Rules adopted pursuant to this section are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.

summary

This bill requires the Director of the Bureau of General Services to coordinate with all state departments and agencies to make cost-savings information available on the department's website for the winners of all competitively bid service contracts for the State. Cost-savings information for a contract with a new contractor must, where applicable, include the projected savings of the contract over the State's costs of providing the same service and include the amount of savings over the previous contractor. Cost-savings information for a contract with a contractor renewing or extending a contract for the first time must include details of the expiring contract's cost savings and details of continued cost-savings at or below costs in the current contract adjusted for inflation. Cost-savings information for a contract with a contractor renewing or extending a contract beyond a first renewal or extension must include details on continued cost-savings at or below costs in the current contract adjusted for inflation. This bill requires that the Director of the Bureau of General Services, with the approval of the Commissioner of Administrative and Financial Services, establish practices and procedures to make the cost-savings information available on the department's website and gives the director the authority to do this by rule.