Bill description: HB 161 would allow local governments to post procurement notices for information technology goods or services online, rather than in a print newspaper.

Rating: +1

Does it increase government spending (for objectionable purposes) or debt? Conversely, does it decrease government spending or debt?

Currently, local governments spend substantial amounts of taxpayer funds to post legal notices in print newspapers within their jurisdiction. By giving counties, cities, school districts and others the opportunity to post such notices online instead, HB 161 could save these local governments substantial expenses.

This bill would only apply to procurement for information technology (IT) goods and services, such as purchasing a batch of Chromebooks, contracting with an IT consultant for redoing a county’s infrastructure, or purchasing new routers for a high school. For many of these purchases, posting the procurement notice online is a far more effective way to reach the individuals and organizations who can meet the need than a notice in the local newspaper.

For example, a school district might want to buy a few hundred Chromebooks for its students, and if it were to put out a request for providers solely in its local newspaper,  there would be few, if any, providers who could meet the needs of the district. With a local circulation of, in some cases , just a few thousand readers, these newspapers would not provide the notice to major manufacturers or wholesalers such as Lenovo, IBM, Apple, or others.

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