No Bid Contracts-planks

Also know as Sole-source contracts.
====
* Government is NOT a place for any No Bid Contracts. 
* If elected, I'll do everything possible to end all no bid contracts.
* No-bid contracts are illegal under European Union commissioning law. We can explore that approach and do something similar, after serious public discussions.
==Links==
* No Bid Contracts
==Details==
===Lawsuit targets 'no-bid' contract===
: December 04, 2007, by Bill Toland, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A local company that specializes in workers' compensation issues has sued the state government, saying the Department of General Services and Department of Labor & Industry erred in awarding a "sole-source" contract to an affiliate of Pittsburgh heath insurance giant Highmark Inc.
Most state contracts are required to be put up for competitive bidding, a process that gives companies from across the state a chance at lucrative government work. Premier Comp Solutions of Robinson says DGS wrongly approved a no-bid contract on behalf of the State Worker Insurance Fund, which provided workers' compensation insurance to thousands of Pennsylvania companies, and this year needed to hire a provider of "case management" services.
In laymen's terms -- when someone gets hurt at work, one doctor will make diagnoses or prescribe treatment and rehab. SWIF needed a team of hired physicians to essentially check up on the diagnoses, making sure they are medically necessary, in order to cut down on payouts and return employees to work in a timely manner.
The contract was awarded to Industrial Medical Consultants, Downtown, a Highmark affiliate, in March, without a bid process. The state's procurement code says "a contract may be awarded without competition" in the case of an emergency, or "only a single contractor is capable of providing the [services]."
"Sole source is, by definition, the only source," said Andy Touchstone, a Philadelphia attorney representing Premier Comp. It's a procurement process that should be used only if it's clear that nobody else is up to the task -- and because Premier Comp Solutions says it is capable of carrying out this contract, the Industrial Medical Consultants contract should be voided.
At least, that's what the plaintiffs are asking of the court.
"This is crazy. They're handpicking" their vendors, said Linda Schmac, head of Premier Comp. In 2004, Gov. Ed Rendell and DGS unveiled their "sole source" initiative, which they believed would save taxpayers millions by bundling contracts and dealing with big providers.
But Republicans worried that the new purchasing system would lock smaller companies out of the bidding process.
The complaint was filed Thursday in Commonwealth Court. Premier Comp, meanwhile, is concurrently involved in a separate but similar legal tussle, again with DGS and the State Workers Insurance Fund, over the department's securing of medical bill repricing services.
A Highmark spokesman had no comment, saying the company hadn't reviewed the suit.
category:Platform_Planks_from_Mark_Rauterkus