Lawmaker believes updated safeguards adequate for awarding state contracts
JACKSON – Legislation passed during the 2017 session is the final piece in putting together laws to ensure the fair and accountable awarding of state contracts for both personal services and commodities, said House Accountability, Efficiency and Transparency Chair Jerry Turner, R-Baldwyn.
Turner said additional “tweaking” of the laws on the awarding of state contracts might be needed in the upcoming session, but said in general “I want to see how the changes work.”
Turner began working on making changes on how state contracts were awarded prior to then-Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps being indicted in November 2014 for accepting bribes for the awarding of contracts. Epps was sentenced to almost 20 years in the federal penitentiary system earlier this year for various counts of bribery and other charges.
The wrongdoing associated with the Department of Corrections helped spur changes being made to the state’s bid process.
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