HB 19 Mississippi House · 2025 Regular Session

Reverse auction; revise method of receiving bids through for agencies and governing authorities.

HB 19 revises Mississippi's procurement rules for state agencies and local governing authorities (like counties and school districts), requiring reverse auctions as the primary method for most purchases over $75,000. If an agency or authority decides a reverse auction isn't appropriate, it must submit a written explanation and get approval from either the Public Procurement Review Board (for state agencies) or its governing board (for local authorities). The bill explicitly excludes public construction projects (including roads and buildings) and certain school purchases (like educational software) from the reverse auction requirement. The legislation died in committee in March 2025 and did not become law.

Bill status died 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Feb 2025

House Passage

Feb 2025

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Feb 7, 2025 Last action Mar 4, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

As Introduced → Current version · 8 edits

MODERATE

HB 19 was amended to strengthen reverse auction requirements for state agencies and governing authorities, clarify emergency purchase procedures, and add numerous new exemptions for specific purchases. The bill now mandates reverse auctions as the primary bidding method for most purchases, with stricter approval processes if agencies want to use alternative methods. Several new exemptions were added for specific items like prison industry products, energy efficiency services, and disaster cleanup contracts.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded to include more specific exemptions and clarifications for various purchasing scenarios, particularly for schools, hospitals, and emergency situations. The applicability of reverse auction requirements was modified to exclude certain categories like construction projects and individual institutions of higher learning.

REQUIREMENT

Reverse auctions are now mandated as the primary method for receiving bids, with agencies needing Public Procurement Review Board approval to use alternative methods.

Construction projects over $75,000 now require 15 working days between notice publication and bid opening, up from the previous standard.

Electronic bid submission requirements now exempt counties with populations under 20,000 and municipalities under 10,000.

Construction contracts now limited to one preliminary punch list and one final list before final payment.

EXEMPTIONS

New exemptions added for prison industry products, energy efficiency services, disaster cleanup contracts, and various other specific purchasing scenarios.

ELIGIBILITY

Emergency purchase procedures were modified to include health and safety threats as a trigger for bypassing competitive bidding requirements.

DEFINITION

New definitions added for minority business categories including specific criteria for Asian, Black, Hispanic, and Native American ownership.

SCOPE

Reverse auction requirements do not apply to individual public schools purchasing educational materials or term contract purchases.

Floor votes · House Feb 6, 2025

How they voted

116–0

Passed · 3 other

Total votes 119

Feb 6, 2025

D Democratic39

39 Yea

100% Yea

I Independent2

2 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican78

75 Yea 3

96% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 17, 2025

Committee

Referred To Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency

upper

Feb 7, 2025

Introduced

Transmitted To Senate

lower

Feb 6, 2025

Lower · Passed

Passed

lower

Jan 30, 2025

Lower · Passed

Title Suff Do Pass

lower

Jan 10, 2025

Committee

Referred To Workforce Development

lower

0 primary · 1 co-sponsor