Professional-services contracting reform urged by Bureau Governmental Research
by Bruce Eggler - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

Its previous calls for eliminating politics from the way New Orleans awards contracts for professional services seemed to fall on mostly deaf ears, but the Bureau of Governmental Research is not giving up. The organization issued another report Wednesday outlining how it thinks both the executive branch and the City Council should revise their procedures for awarding contracts for legal, architectural, engineering, management and other services not covered by the state's public bid law. The organization's latest proposals differ from its earlier recommendations because of the establishment of the city inspector general's office, which the BGR is counting on to play a significant role in monitoring how contracts are awarded and administered. After ticking off a list of contracts issued under Mayors Marc Morial and Ray Nagin that have drawn criticism for their high cost or the questionable qualifications of the people who received them, the BGR report, "Contracting with Confidence," says: "Many citizens of New Orleans have lost faith in the government's ability to procure services that are cost-effective and serve the public interest. To regain the public trust, the city must establish a sound and scrupulous process for evaluating and awarding professional services contracts."