State opts for RFP to award liquor contract
After pushback from lawmakers, the state will use a standard bidding process to award an estimated $378 million contract to manage the state's wholesale liquor distribution.
The Portland Press Herald reported that state officials decided to abandon a plan to negotiate directly with bidders for the contract and will put out a request for proposals from interested parties.
Sawin Millett, the state's financial and administrative services commissioner, responded in writing Wednesday to a request from state Sen. Roger Katz, R-Augusta, that the contract be awarded through the request-for-proposals process.
The current 10-year contract, held with Maine Beverage Co., has generated around $110 million for that company. A 2009 study estimated the value of the new contract could be up to $378 million.
In his request, Katz said that the RFP process would ensure fairness for bidders, but that has been under scrutiny lately in two high-profile contract award disputes.
Earlier this month, a state bureau reversed a decision to grant a contract to Maine Natural Gas to build a Windsor-to-Augusta natural gas pipeline to serve state offices following a complaint by competing bidder, Summit Natural Gas of Maine.
Complaints by telecommunications companies Oxford Networks and Intrado also continued this week over a contract to upgrade the state's 911 emergency communication system. This is the companies' second joint appeal of the process that awarded the contract to Fairpoint Communcations, which holds the current state contract and submitted higher bids than both competing companies.
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