The authority will enable increased flexibility for the management and operation of the Medical Center. The Authority Act allows the Medical Center to be exempt from state procurement, capital improvement and personnel regulations, but the act specifies certain requirements for the exemptions. A new grievance procedure has been developed with the guidance of the Me Issues Committee and is in the final stages of the approval process. Soon we will communicate details about the new policy. The authority's exemption from the state procurement code hinges on our commitment to adopt a competitive bidding process for construction.
Work is underway to formulate a new procurement policy.
We must adopt a new policy to require a high level of accountability in the expenditure of public funds. The entire management team, all business officers and others involved in expenditure of funds will need to be trained and well versed in the new policy. As an authority, like other public entities, we will continue to be covered by state ethics and accountability laws. These laws set forth requirements to ensure no conflict of interest in the conduct of business and employment practices. We will need to underscore the ethics laws in our training and communication.