Civil Beat published an article on 5.24.21 https://www.civilbeat.org/2021/05/bill-would-make-it-harder-to-scrutinize-government-contract-awards-critics-say/ Discussing a piece of legislation that has made its way to the Governor’s desk and is awaiting signature. The bill does two things. First, it imposes a 75 day time limit for public agencies to respond to bid protests. Second, it eliminates any cap on the cost of filing for an appeal of a bid protest decision issued by an agency. The first part of the bill went through conference, was subject to numerous hearings and received significant public testimony. The second did not. The first part of the bill will effect an important reform of the procurement code to address the main complaint of participants from bidders to agencies — delay — while still affording agencies the ability to seek more time to address protests, if needed.
The second part of the bill effectively eliminates oversight over agency decisions on bid protests on large projects, and will be terrible for procurement.
See Anna’s blog at https://www.hawaiiconstructionlaw.com/ for her full explanation.
