Attorney General's Office says four $20 million contingency-fee contracts are new awards from September RFP

Agency representatives told the committee that four contingency-fee contracts presented by the Attorney General's Office are new awards out of a September request for proposals, not renewals.

"These are actually new contracts that came out of the, September RFP," Chris Lewis, division chief in the AG's consumer and senior protection division, told the committee. Lewis and Will Schroeder (senior counsel) said the $20,000,000 figure listed for each contract is an outside maximum; Lewis said that for one of the contracts to pay out $20,000,000 the firm would have to recover about $380,000,000 for the state.

Senator Meredith and other members pressed why the contracts were presented with an effective date earlier than when the firms returned signed documents; AG staff said the board and finance approvals were in place and that the delay was in getting signatures from the firms. The AG office said it will improve timing to avoid future retroactive approvals and that these particular contracts include renewal options that should streamline future submissions.

The committee moved to consider those items reviewed without objection and approved them on a roll call.

What the committee asked for: members requested additional documentation about contract history and usage estimates so the committee can see how much of the outside maximums are likely to be used.