Legislature(1997 - 1998)
03/05/1997 05:20 PM House RLS
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HOUSE RULES STANDING COMMITTEE
March 5, 1997
5:20 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Pete Kott, Chairman
Representative Gail Phillips
Representative Brian Porter
Representative Bill Williams
Representative Kim Elton
Representative Al Vezey
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Irene Nicholia
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
Approval of Professional Services Contract with Ron Sommerville
PREVIOUS ACTION
No previous action to record.
WITNESS REGISTER
PAMELA VARNI, Executive Director
Legislative Affairs Agency
130 Seward Street, Suite 313
Juneau, Alaska 99801-2197
Telephone: (907) 465-3800
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered questions regarding Mr. Sommerville.
TED POPELY, Legislative Assistant
House and Senate Majority
Capitol Building, Room 208
Juneau, Alaska 99811
Telephone: (907) 465-3720
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered questions regarding Mr. Sommerville.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 97-8, SIDE A
Number 001
CHAIRMAN PETE KOTT called the House Rules Standing Committee to
order at 5:20 p.m. Members present at the call to order were
Representatives Porter, Williams, Elton, Vezey, Phillips and Kott.
APPROVAL OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICES CONTRACT WITH RON SOMMERVILLE
Number 021
CHAIRMAN KOTT said before the committee is the contractual
professional services contract between the House Rules Committee
and Ron Sommerville, approving, rejecting or amending the contract
in the amount of $25,000. The contract commenced on February 1,
and terminates August 1. The reason the House Rules Committee is
taking up the issue is because the money will come out of the
session budget.
Number 031
REPRESENTATIVE GAIL PHILLIPS made a motion to accept the contract
for Ron Sommerville in the amount of $25,000, excluding
reimbursement for expenses, and that the contract be in effect
until August 1.
Number 038
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN PORTER objected for the purpose of discussion.
CHAIRMAN KOTT said there is a motion before the committee to accept
the contract and there was an objection.
Number 044
PAMELA VARNI, Executive Director, Legislative Affairs Agency, came
before the committee. She stated the contract is a professional
services contract, which means the accounting section would be
paying Mr. Sommerville versus him being on staff. It would save
the legislature money because he is not being paid for leave,
health and other benefits that state employees receive. Ms. Varni
explained Mr. Sommerville has been on contract before. She noted
the agency does budget, under session expenses, for professional
service contracts.
CHAIRMAN KOTT said it is his understanding that Mr. Sommerville
will report to the project director, Ted Popely.
Number 060
MS. VARNI indicated that is correct. She informed the committee
members Mr. Popely works for the House and Senate majority. Most
of the time he is the project director for a lot of the
professional service contracts that the legislature has.
REPRESENTATIVE PHILLIPS indicated Mr. Popely could discuss how the
legislature has used Mr. Sommerville's services.
Number 069
TED POPELY, Legislative Assistant, House and Senate Majority, came
before the committee. He said he works closely with Mr.
Sommerville. He noted that in the past, he has been a contract
employee with the legislature. Mr. Popely explained in the
committee members' files there is a break down of some of the work
that Mr. Sommerville has done with the legislature. He said most
of the issues he has been assigned involves state and federal
issues, such as subsistence management, fisheries regulations,
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), RS2477
rights-of-way, etc. Mr. Popely stated Mr. Sommerville has been an
integral factor in most of the work he has had to do. Mr.
Sommerville has assisted and consulted on issues and has performed
various tasks such as drafting testimony for individual legislators
to be given before congressional and state committees. Mr.
Sommerville has also corresponded with federal agencies and has
contacts with other assorted state and federal government
officials. He has preformed a substantial amount of research in
these areas and has an extensive working historical knowledge of
many issues as a result of his 20 plus years with the Alaska
Department of Fish and Game where he served as a wildlife biologist
prior to his retirement. Mr. Sommerville's services have been
valuable.
Number 138
REPRESENTATIVE KIM ELTON asked how many contracts has Mr.
Sommerville had, how far back do they go and what is the total
amount.
MR. POPELY indicated Mr. Sommerville has been working since 1995.
He has had a contract that has been extended from 1995 until the
present. His total for the last two calendar years has been about
$97,000. This extension, the $25,000, would be on top of that. He
noted it has been written in increments of $25,000 for six month
periods. He has been billing at $40 an hour, and will be billing
at $50 under the current contract. Mr. Sommerville performs a
substantial amount of work pro bono and limits himself to a certain
number of hours per day.
Number 138
REPRESENTATIVE ELTON indicated he used to administer contracts with
the Executive Branch and under the Executive Branch rules, any
contract that was over $10,000 you had to solicit three bids. If
it was over $25,000, you had to go to the full bid process.
Representative Elton said the contract administrators would always
be looking over his shoulders to make sure they aren't
inappropriately broken up. He asked what the rules are for
legislative appropriations, contracts and why there has been a
series of $25,000 contracts. Representative Elton said he could
make a good argument, as the history indicates, that there is a
full expectation that he is going to be recontracted. He
questioned why this is being done in a series of contracts.
Number 154
MS. VARNI explained under the legislature's procurement procedures,
we don't have to solicit for professional services if it is $25,000
or under. Once it exceeds $25,000 or above, unless it's for legal
services. Legal services does not fit into this solicitation
procedure. She explained the procurement procedures for the
legislature are a lot stricter than the Executive Branch. It is
like going out and hiring an attorney, you know who you want to
hire and who has the expertise in that field. She said in a lot of
instances someone will start out with a $10,000 or $25,000 contract
and then realize they need additional work with someone that has
the expertise. She said if that is the case, there is
documentation that the person can provide the required service and
that is why they didn't go out to bid. In Mr. Sommerville's case,
the contract isn't an amendment because he has taken on additional
responsibilities. She referred to the statement of work and what
he is providing for the House and Senate and said it is currently
a lot different than what his original contract said. Ms. Varni
explained Senate Rules approved Mr. Sommerville's contracts before.
A lot of his work was provided to both the House and Senate
minority leaders so they could share in the information he was
providing.
Number 188
REPRESENTATIVE ELTON said he has asked Mr. Sommerville to provide
his biweekly reports and he has been very good about doing that.
He said his concern is that somebody could come in and say, "What
you're doing is you're artificially limiting this contract to the
exact amount beyond what you don't need to do this and you're doing
it in a series." That leads to the perception of a problem that
this is being done in order to get beyond the contract provision.
He asked if the provisions are part of law or if they are
legislative operating procedures.
MS. VARNI explained it isn't in statute. She said it says in Title
36 that the legislature will adopt procurement procedures that are
consistent with the Executive Branch. We have procurement
procedures that have been adopted by the Legislative Council. Mr.
Varni said there are a lot of contracts that are for $15,000,
$20,000 or $25,000 and they don't go beyond that. The ones that
are amended because of certain circumstances, there is
documentation to substantiate why it is exceed the $25,000.
Number 213
REPRESENTATIVE AL VEZEY said he isn't aware that any professional
service contracts are put out to bid, at least not in the state of
Alaska.
REPRESENTATIVE ELTON said the contracts he has been involved with
were if it was a professional service contract over $10,000, they
had to solicit from three people. If it was over $25,000, you had
to go through the full request for proposals (RFP) process.
REPRESENTATIVE VEZEY said the professional services contracts he is
familiar with in excess of $1 million are not bid. He said you
qualify the professionals and then the fee is negotiated. There
may be another category of professional services where they don't
feel it's really professional.
MS. VARNI said she believes Representative Vezey is talking about
engineering contracts, where that is true.
REPRESENTATIVE VEZEY said when you get the professionals and
experts, the procurement code provides that the state, as an owner,
can choose the expert that best fits the needs.
MS. VARNI said the Executive Branch may have that policy, but the
legislature does not. When the contracts exceed $10,000, there is
a typed contract they enter into with someone. Professional
services above $25,000 would go out to bid.
Number 248
REPRESENTATIVE VEZEY said he would strongly suggest we look at
adjusting our procurement regulations. There is a big difference
between contracting for services and contracting for professional
services. He said there many many cases where prospective bidders
are not qualified to go out and service.
MS. VARNI said that is correct and she does have some suggested
changes for the legislative procurement procedures. She noted they
are drafted, but she hasn't had a chance to meet with
Representative Barnes to see whether she is in agreement with the
suggested changes. She noted the changes would need eight votes
from the Legislative Council.
Number 262
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN PORTER said he thinks the statutory
requirement would have a process that would be somewhat of an
(indisc.) to the state's procurement code. The state procurement
code allows for full source contracts and RFPs. This is similar to
those processes. He said he would remove his objection.
Number 273
REPRESENTATIVE ELTON said he would like an understanding of what
the rules are. He said, "If I were going to go back to Washington,
D.C., what kind of access would have to help for testimony or
speech or if I were going to be visiting professional offices
(indisc.) Mr. Sommerville or somebody that's under contract. I
guess the Rules Committee is the agency."
Number 280
Representative Phillips said if Representative Elton or another
member were to go the Washington, D.C. and testify on behalf of the
House of Representatives, Mr. Sommerville helps prepare all of the
documentation. If a member were to go in their own, he wouldn't
help. It has to be done on behalf of the House of Representatives,
as a whole.
CHAIRMAN KOTT said there is a motion before the committee to accept
the contract between the House Rules Committee and Ron Sommerville.
He asked if there was an objection.
REPRESENTATIVE ELTON objected.
A roll call vote was taken. Representatives Phillips, Porter,
Vezey, Williams and Kott voted in favor of the motion.
Representative Elton voted against the motion. Chairman Kott said
the contract was accepted by the House Rules Committee.
ADJOURNMENT
CHAIRMAN KOTT adjourned the House Rules Committee meeting at 5:40
p.m.
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