County commissioners approve new purchasing, contracting policy

Sedgwick County has changed how it studies bids and signs off on contracts with the private sector.

County commissioners voted 5-0 to approve a new purchasing and contracting policy Wednesday. But they removed a reference to a “cone of silence,” a concept to protect conversations inspired by 1960s television spy sit-com “Get Smart.”

“Fair competition and sound contracts really are essential elements of truly transparent government,” County Manager Michael Scholes said.

Scholes said the county needed a new policy because some departments were acting in silos with different interpretations of the existing rules, which allowed for “diminished oversight and room for error.”

The new policy changes the makeup of the board of bids and contracts. The five-member board will be chaired by Deputy County Manager Tom Golden.

Assistant Counselor Misha Jacob-Warren said evaluation teams are supposed to meet and discuss bids in person and not by e-mail. The evaluation teams were supposed to keep their deliberations confidential under a “cone of silence.”

“This is to protect the integrity of the process,” she said.

The bid board and the County Commission should be able to pivot based on new information for the process to remain fluid, Jacob-Warren said.

“Commissioners have the ability to send it back to bid board or to send it all the way back to the evaluation team with any new piece of information,” she said.

Commissioner David Dennis said he hoped the goal of in-person meetings was to improve the deliberations and not to shield the process from public view and open records requests.

“Someone might construe that to say that we’re not being transparent,” Dennis said. “We’re not trying to say that we’re not going to have an e-mail trail.”

Dennis asked for the “cone of silence” concept to not be referred to as that in the new policy. Other commissioners agreed.

“I was just wondering, could I get one of those cones of silence for my personal use?” Chairman Dave Unruh joked.

The new resolution will go into effect in 60 days after it is published in The Eagle.

This story was originally published January 18, 2017 at 5:49 PM with the headline "County commissioners approve new purchasing, contracting policy."