Mississippi

Key Agency(ies): The Mississippi Department of Finance & Administration (DFA) through the Office of Purchasing, Travel, and Fleet Management functions as Mississippi’s central purchasing office. The office also produces the Mississippi Procurement Manual, which consolidates procurement laws, regulations, and procedures.

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Key Statute: Mississippi’s statutory framework for their procurement law is located primarily in Title 31, Chapter 7 of the Mississippi Code Annotated (Miss. Code Ann.).

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Key Regulations: The principal guide for state agency purchasing is the Mississippi Procurement Manual. The Manual has been incorporated into the Mississippi Administrative Code at Title 12, Part 6.

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Procurement Types/Highlights:

Small Purchases (Direct Buy): For procurements up to $5,000, agencies may purchase without competitive bids or quotes. Agencies are still required to ensure price reasonableness.

Informal Bidding: For procurements between $5,000 and $75,000, agencies are required to obtain at least two competitive written bids. Agencies may solicit these via fax or email, and no public advertisement is required. Agencies are required to maintain records of informal procurements.

Formal Sealed Bidding: Purchases above $75,000 must be made via full formal competitive bidding. Mississippi requires public advertising of Invitations for Bids in a “newspaper of general circulation in the county of the agency.” Bids are opened publicly, and award is made to the “lowest and best” bidder.

Request for Proposals: RFPs are used for purchases of professional services, and complex acquisitions where factors other than price must be weighed. RFPs must include clear evaluation criteria. Price must be an evaluation factor, but the contract may be awarded to the proposal offering the best value to the state.

Bid Protests:

Regs Governing Bid Protests:

• Mississippi’s Bid Protest procedures are governed by Chapter 6 of the Procurement Manual.

Timeliness Rules:

• Protests must be filed in writing to the head of the purchasing agency with a copy to the DFA Chief Procurement Officer within seven days after the protester had reason to know of the facts giving rise to the protest.
• Upon receipt of a bid protest, the Chief Procurement Officer must notify the Mississippi Attorney General’s office of the dispute within three days.

Protest Process:

• If a protest is timely filed before the contract award is made, the agency must stay the procurement, unless the CPO makes a written determination that an award is necessary to protect the interests of the state.
• If the protest cannot be solved by alternative dispute resolution, the agency head or CPO must issue a formal written decision on the protest.

Appeals:

• A protester may appeal an adverse decision to the Public Procurement Review Board for an independent administrative review. Protesters have seven days after receiving an agency’s decision to file an appeal with PPRB.
• PPRB will conduct a de novo review of the protest, which may include a hearing for both sides to present evidence for their case.
• Following a hearing, the PPRB will issue a written decision on the protest. The PPRB decision is the final administrative decision.

Claims: 

• Mississippi’s Claim procedures are also governed by Chapter 6 of the Procurement Manual.
• Contractors are required to submit any claims in writing to the state’s Chief Procurement Officer or to the official administering the contract. If the claim cannot be resolved by mutual agreement, the officer must issue a final written decision on the claim within 60 days after the contractor formally requests a final decision in writing.
• A disappointed contractor may appeal an adverse decision by the contracting officer to the PPRB within seven days of receiving that decision. PPRB will conduct a de novo hearing and can hold a hearing for the contractor and agency to present evidence. PPRB’s decision on the claim is the final administrative decision.

Suspension & Debarment:

• Mississippi’s Suspension & Debarment procedures are also governed by the Procurement Manual.
• Contractors in Mississippi may be debarred for up to two years. Suspensions in Mississippi cannot exceed three months.
• The DFA Chief Procurement Officer has authority to suspend or debar a contractor for several grounds. These include criminal offenses related to obtaining or performing a government contract, antitrust violations, and serious contract performance failures. A contractor may be suspended if there is probable cause to believe that a cause for debarment has occurred.
• Prior to debarment, the CPO must send the contractor a written notice of the proposed debarment. The contractor has seven days after receipt of the notice to request a formal hearing. If the contractor requests a hearing, the CPO may appoint a hearing officer to conduct an administrative hearing. At the hearing, the contractor may respond to allegations and present evidence in its defense. After the hearing, the officer will prepare a written determination on whether the debarment is justified.
• Contractors may appeal a debarment decision to the PPRB, who will conduct a de novo review. Contractors must file their appeal to the PPRB within seven days after receiving the officer’s decision. The PPRB’s decision is the final administrative decision.

Interesting/Distinctions: In Mississippi, purchases are made from the “lowest and best bidder,” and not necessarily the lowest bidder. Miss. Code Ann. § 31-7-13(d)(i). Any governing board or authority that accepts a bid other than the lowest bid actually submitted shall put forth “detail[ed] calculations and [a] narrative summary showing that the accepted bid was determined to be the lowest and best bid, including the dollar amount of the accepted bid and the dollar amount of the lowest bid.” Id. In other words, the board must explain why it did not accept the lowest bid, but it is not required to hold a hearing when it does so. See J&A Excavation, Inc. v. City of Ellisville, 371 So. 3d 199, 205-06 (Miss. Ct. App. 2023). A board acts arbitrarily when it does not explain why the non-lowest bid is the best bid or better than the lowest bid even if it supplies legitimate reasons to show that the lowest bid is problematic or insufficient. See id. at 206. Rather, it must point to “some evidence regarding the capabilities of the winning bidder.” Id. at 207.