MMA letter to Administration and Oversight Committee supporting micro-purchasing threshold bill

Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight
State House, Boston

Dear Representative Walsh, Senator Joyce, and Members of the Committee,

On behalf of the cities and towns of the Commonwealth, the Massachusetts Municipal Association would like to express strong support for House 3974, an Act amending the micro-purchasing threshold under Chapter 149.

This bill would reinstate rules governing small construction and repair projects at the local level that were inadvertently superceded by the 2004 public construction reform law, Chapter 193 of the Acts of 2004, and replaced with a requirement for three or more written price quotations. This erroneous change has placed a greater administrative burden on cities and towns, and has caused significant delays in getting simple projects started and completed.

There is general agreement that the former rules for small projects represented good procurement policy and should be reinstated for projects of less than $5,000. Legislation filed by the Inspector General (House 15) would insert in Section 44A of Chapter 49 of the General Laws the “sound business practices” rule for projects estimated to cost less than $5,000. In addition, the municipal relief legislation (House 1971) filed in May by the Special Commission on Municipal Relief includes provisions restoring the “sound business practices” rule for projects of not more than $5,000.

We request that the committee give the important local government legislation a favorable report. Please do not hesitate to contact MMA Deputy Legislative Director John Robertson at (617) 426-7272 if you have any questions.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Geoffrey C. Beckwith
MMA Executive Director