This second edition of Contracting for Services in State and Local Government Agencies provides extensive state-of-the-art coverage of best practices in the procurement of services at state and local levels, from initial stages through to completion. Including lively case studies and research based on research conducted with state and local agencies across the United States, this book provides management advice and tips on compliance to reduce costs, select the best qualified contractors, manage contractors’ performance, and prevent corruption and waste.
Through new research in all fifty states, author William Sims Curry has thoroughly updated his popular best-practice documents, methodologies, and templates including a request for proposal (RFP), a process for scoring proposals to select the best qualified contractor, a process for meeting socioeconomic contracting goals without compromising price, quality, or on-time delivery, and a model services contract (MSC). Special consideration is given to procurement processes to obtain services and products needed during state-of-emergency situations, and several tools are included on a companion website including a best practices contract incorporating all essential terms and conditions, as well as a straightforward, inexpensive tool for tracking contractors’ progress and cost management. Anomalous formulas presently used by state and local governments to select contractors are exposed, and corrected formulas are provided. The roadmap and templates contained in this book and available online to readers will benefit state and local government agency contracting professionals as well as other agency officials and employees who are called upon to participate in the drafting of solicitations, writing sole source justifications, writing scopes of work, serving on advance contract planning and source selection teams, recommending award of contracts and assisting in the management of those contracts.
