No consensus on losing-bid reports

There's still no action — nor even a general consensus — on a proposal to change the state's decades-old practice of withholding information on the losing bids for some government contracts.

Members of the state Procurement Policy Board met this week for a second time to discuss whether unsuccessful requests for proposals (RFPs), now kept secret, should be made public.

An attempt to reach agreement "conceptually" on the idea of making the bids public proposed by James Parker, head of the University of Utah's purchasing department, failed when no member would second his motion.

Parker told the board he wanted to be on the record as "going in the direction of providing more disclosure." But Salt Lake County's Richard Chamberlin, the board's chairman, said members needed further legal advice before making that decision.

Traditional bids to sell government products or services are typically awarded based solely on price and, win or lose, are made public. RFPs, however, are sought for more complex needs, such as promoting state tourism.

Proposals usually contain much more detailed information that bidders want to keep out of the hands of their competitors. State purchasing rules now require only the winning proposal to be made public.

That is apparently in conflict with the state's open-records law, so the policy board is reviewing the rule. Members have said they'd like to release at least the rankings of the proposals submitted but have agreed on little else.

Thursday, they considered changes to the rule including making the losing proposals public for just 90 days. Several board members said they liked the idea, because it would limit the time they'd have to deal with questions about what information had to stay private.

Under the Government Records Access and Management Act, information considered "trade secrets" is not subject to public disclosure. Even the board couldn't agree Thursday on what information would qualify.

They'll try again on Dec. 5, when Assistant Attorney General Alan Bachman is expected to have new language for them to consider as well as answers about the legality of limiting the amount of time proposals would be made public.

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