Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Richard Arnholt provided comments on the questionable communications related to the bidding process for two separate contracts awarded by the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership. In both cases, email exchanges between individuals in the St. Louis county executive and economic partnership offices and a top donor to the county executive’s campaign revealed that the donor requested feedback on his proposal prior to formally submitting the bid. The Economic Development Partnership subsequently awarded the two government contracts to the donor’s company.
The communications between the parties raises the questions about fairness and the independence of the review process. “It may be legal for them to do that, but it’s not good policy… Generally, getting feedback on a bid is impermissible in a competitive procurement context,” said Richard.
The full article, “Documents Raise Questions about St. Louis Economic Development Partnership Bidding Procedures,” was published by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on June 23, 2018, and is available online.