Gov. Rick Scott’s first term in office has been focused on growing jobs. Yet, we heard again recently about another government agency that awarded a contract to an out-of-state firm.
Statewide media consultant Ron Sachs went on a Facebook rant after his Tallahassee–based company was skipped over for a local government contract.
“The Tallahassee Airport leadership outsourced without competitive bidding a web development contract for about $23,000 to an Atlanta-based company”, said Sachs.
Sachs says an airport director was connected to the Atlanta company through a previous job. Competitive bidding wasn’t required because the contract was for less than $25,000.
“There are so many skilled people that it seems odd that anybody would think about making their first choice to go outside of Florida for work that could ably be done right here with a Florida based company”, Sachs said.
Florida lawmakers agree that Florida businesses should be considered first. During the last legislative session, they passed an amendment requiring state agencies to give Florida companies preference when awarding contracts.
Florida Senate President Don Gaetz says agencies should make it easy for Florida companies to bid for work, but that can’t be the only consideration.
“I think it’s important to make sure that when we’re spending taxpayers’ dollars, we’re hiring companies that can give taxpayers the best deal”, Gaetz said.
The state’s economic development agency Enterprise Florida recently took some heat for hiring a Tennessee firm to conduct research. The manager behind that decision is Chief Marketing Officer Melissa Medley.
Medley said, “It means making sure that you’re going with the best price you can get for the product or service that truly meets your needs.”
Enterprise Florida is a public/private partnership looking to create an ad campaign to lure more businesses to the state. So the agency put out a call for bids. Only 8 companies responded with detailed proposals. A Tennessee company got part of the job worth about $210,000.
“The committee felt that they truly showed a clearer understanding of our objective for this project and could provide that data”, said Medley.
The company chosen for the much larger chunk of the project is based in Jacksonville. That job could be worth more than a million dollars.
But some people think the first contract should have also stayed in Florida, instead of being sent to Tennessee. Ben Wilcox is research director for Integrity Florida, a government watchdog group.
“There are tons of public relation firms in Florida that could have done that business”, Wilcox said. “And then we find out that the CEO of Enterprise Florida, Gray Swoope, had done business with that company in his previous job.”
Enterprise Florida says the Tennessee firm was chosen by a committee of seven people, and Gray Swoope had no voice in the selection. The agency says the firm is registered with the state of Florida as a vendor, and is considered one of the nation’s leading agencies for economic and tourism brand development.
Wilcox thinks more openness and transparency in how government contracts are awarded would help allay the criticism.
“I think the companies in Florida really just want a level playing field”, said Wilcox. “They don’t want to see contracts go out of state if the money could be better spent in Florida.”
According to state records, 89% of current contracts are with Florida businesses. However, the addresses listed are where the payments get sent. The physical location of the company may be different.
Florida-based companies are encouraged to register with the state’s online exchange for buyers and vendors called MyFloridaMarketplace.