When you hear no bid you think Haliburton and your blood pressure rises. Well, seems that the Arkansas lawmakers have been slipping in “no bid” slight of hand bills for about 9 years now. With close to a billion dollars of OUR money having to go to rebuilding and refurbishing inadequate schools in the next 10 years, I’m in no mood to think that any state/municipal funded project over $2-5 million dollars DOESN’T have to be sent out for competitive bid. I’m in no mood to even think that a School Superintendent or a Legislator can give their buddies the contract, because they can. Lord, we seem to take one step forward and two steps back. This needs to stop NOW!

My feeling is that unless our high court or the Legislature reverses these actions and we return to the process where the integrity of competitive bidding can help ensure the best financial situation for the public and all contractors, we taxpayers likely will be shelling out much more than is necessary for multimillion-dollar projects in years to come.