When Does Piggybacking Violate Competitive Bidding?

In an era of reduced government resources, piggybacking is an increasingly popular tool for many public agencies in the procurement of goods and services.  

What is Piggybacking?  In piggybacking, an agency utilizes the pricing and contracting of another agency that has already procured the same product or service, saving the agency the effort of developing its own invitation to bid and going through a separate solicitation process.

Various rules apply:  Different agencies have different requirement for piggybacking, but generally the agency that conducted the procurement must have both followed their own requirements, and met the procurement requirements of the agency attempting to piggyback off of the contract.  Some agencies require a signed agreement between the agencies.  But not all piggybacking is permissible.  

Scope of work not equal:  In one case, a court ruled that a county's piggybacking of a state's contract violated the county's own procurement code because the county significantly expanded the scope of goods and services that the state had procured (software purchase, implementation, and maintenance).  

• The state's contract was for $176,200 while the county's was for $711,120.  
• The state's contract included only 9 software modules, while the county purchased 40 modules.
• The number of users was significantly different between the state and the county.
• The time for installation and training was significantly different between the state and the county.

The court challenge was brought by a vendor who was denied the opportunity to compete in the open market for the county contract.  The court noted that:

The County acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it violated the terms of the piggyback provision of its Code in entering into the three agreements.  The agreements must therefore be deemed void and of no effect.

More Information:  Click here for an article from GovPro by Richard Pennington that includes more information about Sarasota County, Florida's attempt to piggyback off of a State of Wisconsin contract for a zoning and permitting tracking system.

Mike Purdy's Public Contracting Blog 

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