Citizens Property Insurance Announces Plans to Comply with State Procurement Requirements

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation issued the following news release today, February 15, 2013:

Citizens Announces Plans to Comply with State Procurement Requirements

TALLAHASSEE, FL – As part of its ongoing effort to increase fiscal prudence and accountability, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (Citizens) announces that in applying Citizens’ statutory procurement guidelines in 627.351(6)(e), Florida Statutes, Citizens will be revising its Purchasing Policy to conform with section 287.057, F.S., which governs procurement procedures for state agencies, except in instances where Citizens’ statute and Purchasing Policy are more stringent than state requirements.  

“Citizens is aggressively looking for ways to tighten its financial belt,” said Citizens President/CEO and Executive Director Barry Gilway. “Clarifying and strengthening our internal procurement procedures will be the first of many concrete improvements made as Citizens lives up to its commitment to hold itself to the highest levels of financial and ethical integrity.”

While Citizens’ competitive solicitation guidelines already closely mirror state requirements, the following describes the major procedural changes that will be made by Citizens to conform to s.287.057:

• Eliminate Citizens’ “expedited procurement” process
• Expand conflicts of interest provision to require the mitigation of potential conflicts and disqualifies any vendor that obtains information not available to the public
• Require that the review and approval process for contracts in excess of $65,000 include program, financial, and legal review and approval before the contract is executed
• Following emergency procurements, provide the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) with a written determination that an emergency procurement was required, which has been certified under oath
• Assign a contract manager to each contract over $35,000
• Require that all Citizens contract managers attend Department of Management Services (DMS) sponsored training
• Require that all Citizens purchasing agents file financial disclosure forms

Citizens staff will bring a revised Purchasing Policy reflecting these changes to the March 22 Board of Governors meeting in Orlando. Meeting details and materials will be available in advance of the meeting at www.citizensfla.com.

Should you have any questions or comments, please contact Colodny Fass& Webb.

Click here to follow Colodny Fass& Webb on Twitter (@CFTLAWcom)

To unsubscribe from this newsletter, please send an email to Brooke Ellis at bellis@cftlaw.com.