Maine

Key Agency(ies): In Maine, the central purchasing authority is the Office of State Procurement Services within the Department of Administrative and Financial Services. The office is led by the Chief Procurement Officer, who is responsible for promulgating statewide procurement rules.

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Key Statute: Maine’s procurement law is codified mainly in Title 5, Chapter 155 (“Purchases”) in the Maine Revised Statutes Annotated (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann.).

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Key Regulations: Maine’s procurement laws are implemented in the Code of Maine Rules (Me. Code R.) largely at 18-554 Me. Code R. (Bureau of General Services).

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Procurement Types/Highlights: The most common methods of procurement in Maine are:

Formal competitive bidding (sealed bids): For purchases of goods and standard services exceeding $5,000, DAFS will issue a Request for Quotations to vendors. Vendors submit bids by a set deadline, and bids are opened publicly. Contracts are awarded to the lowest-priced, responsive, responsible bidder.

Request for Proposals: Maine uses RFPs when evaluation criteria are not solely price. All service contracts exceeding $25,000 must be procured using an RFP. Cost must be at least 25% of the weighted evaluation score. Contracts are awarded to the proposal that offers the best overall value to the state.

Small Purchases: For contracts below statutory thresholds, Maine law provides for streamlined methods. For services from $5,000 to $25,000, agencies must seek at least three written quotes and award to the lowest-priced quote. For services and commodities under $5,000 agencies may directly negotiate or use a simplified quote process.

Bid Protests:

Regs Governing Bid Protests:

• Maine’s bid protest process is governed by Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 5, § 1825-E and 18-554-120 Me. Code R.

Timeliness Rules:

• Disappointed vendors may request a stay of the contract award by filing a written request to the Director of the Bureau of General Services within 10 days of the notification of the contract award. The Director must decide stay requests within seven days.
• Vendors must also file a written request for a hearing within 15 days of the award notice.

Protest Process:

• Once a hearing has been granted, it is held before a three-member appeal committee. During the hearing, the vendor and the contracting agency may present evidence.
• Following the hearing, the committee must issue a written decision within 15 days.
• Their decision may either validate the award or invalidate it. If an award is invalidated the contract becomes void.
• The Director must notify all parties of the committee’s decision within 10 days. The committee’s decision is the final agency action.

Claims:

• Contract claims in Maine are governed by Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 5, § 1510-A.
• For contract disputes, agencies must hear and adjudicate claims of $2,000 or less themselves.
• If an agency disallows a claim or does not act within 90 days, a contractor may appeal to the State Claims Commission. The Claims Commission hears state claims de novo. It has the authority to award damages against the state.
• The Claims Commission’s decision is the final administrative action, although a contractor may appeal a decision of the Claims Commission to the Superior Court within 30 days. The Superior Court reviews decisions from the Claims Commission de novo.

Suspension & Debarment:

• Several Maine agencies have statutory debarment powers. The Maine Department of Labor may debar employers from state contracts for labor law violations. The Department of Environmental services may also debar contractors for environmental violations.
• Although there is no statewide suspension and debarment law in Maine, the Office of State Procurement has issued guidance that debarment and suspension are only used in rare cases. Final decisions are normally made following a hearing where the impacted vendor can provide evidence in their defense.

Interesting/Distinctions:

• Under Maine's competitive bid processes, all bids are entered into a record and are open to public inspection after the letting of a contract. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 5, § 1825-B(6). However, all proposals are sequestered until notification of award, after which point they become public record.  18-554-110 Me. Code R.
• Maine has a State Procurement Review Committee that is responsible for overseeing the purchase of services costing $1,000,000 or more. The committee must act unanimously, and its powers include the ability to approve an agency's request to issue a request for proposals, execute a contract, or renew, extend, amend or otherwise alter an existing contract based on several elements.
• Maine courts have held in several instances that contractors are not entitled to compensation by the contracting agency or department if the state cancels the contract or the program under which it was solicited. See, e.g., S.C. Tech., Inc. v. Dep't of Env't Protection, 688 A.2d 421, 424 (Me. 1996); KHK Associates v. Dep't of Human Servs., 632 A.2d 138, 140 (Me. 1993).