Does Your School Need to Learn Public Contracting 101?
It appears Alabama A&M needs a refresher course. A state audit report released on Friday, August 21 found that Alabama A&M violated state law in 2006 when it granted food service company ARAMARK a four-year extension without putting the contract up for competitive bid.
If you go to a public university, similar laws may apply to how your school handles its food service contracting process. If you’re paying more attention to the rules than Alabama A&M administrators were, it could be a chance to impact campus food service for the better. Last year, students at University of New Mexico used the fact that its food service contract was out to bid to highlight social justice issues. The University chose a new contractor (you can see the contract in our contract database).
So how does public contracting work?
If a public body wants to procure goods or services, it usually must go through a public bidding process. The bidding process involves publicly issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) or an Invitation to Negotiate (ITN)‚ an invitation for companies to bid for the business. Companies may then submit closed bids which are opened on a date selected by the public body, in our case, the university. After reviewing the bids and negotiating with the companies, the university awards the bid to the company of its choosing. (Private universities do not have to conform to public bidding laws, but they may follow a similar process.)
The entire public bidding process offers an excellent opportunity for students to keep track of their university’s food service contract because public contracts -- as well as the RFPs and other related documents -- are generally subject to requests under the state’s public records law. If you want to learn more about the relationship between food service giants like ARAMARK and your university, what better way than to read the contract itself?
If you do want to submit a public records act request, take a look at our sample and our Public Records Act instruction page. You can also go to this Public Records Act request generator site to help you with the wording. Even if you attend a private school, you may want to ask your university dining services for the contract directly – there is always a chance they’ll give it to you.
