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Superior Court: Public Agencies Must Follow Bid Laws
A Suffolk Superior Court Judge recently ruled that the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative broke the law when it created a so-called 'alter ego' corporation to try to avoid the state's public bidding laws. In 2004 the group set up a private nonprofit arm to handle the contract process for the renovation of a vocational high school in West Springfield. LPVEC officials had argued that because the separate entity was private it wasn't subject to state bidding laws.
After the Foundation for Fair Contracting contacted then Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly about the case, Reilly asked for a court injunction to stop the project. Although state and appellate judges declined to halt the work, the AG's office pressed for a ruling on the merits of the case.
The Superior Court decision will have no effect on the project, which has been completed, and the educational collaborative will not be punished. The ruling does, however, send a strong signal to tax-payer financed entities in the Commonwealth that they may not attempt to skirt the law by setting up private corporations. Concludes Attorney General Martha Coakley, "When public entities engage in construction projects, there must be open, fair and transparent competition, consistent with the procedures and purposes of the bid law."
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