§ 37-2-70 - Professional services – Legal.
SECTION 37-2-70
§ 37-2-70 Professional services –Legal. – (a) Before a state governmental entity procures the services of an attorney, astate agency shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of the chief purchasingofficer or a public agency shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of thedirectors of the public agency the following:
(1) The need for the services, including the scope of theservices to be performed;
(2) That no legal personnel employed by the state on afull-time basis is available to perform those services;
(3) That funding is available, indicating from which sourcesthe funding is to be provided;
(4) That attorneys to be engaged meet the following minimumrequirements:
(i) Appropriate professional licensing;
(ii) Competence to perform those services as reflected byformal training and education, general experience, experience in providing therequired services, and the qualifications and competence of persons who wouldbe assigned to perform the services; and
(iii) Ability to perform the services as reflected byworkload and availability of adequate personnel, equipment, and facilities toperform the services expeditiously.
(b) The attorney shall enter into a letter of engagement withthe state. The letter of engagement shall state the rate of compensation, thescope of the services to be performed for the compensation, and provision forthe payment of expenses incurred in connection with legal services. The letterof engagement shall certify that the rate of compensation does not exceed therate of compensation charged by counsel to his or her preferred public orprivate clients. A letter of engagement shall not be for more than one year.
(c) Nothing herein shall prevent the issuance of a publicsolicitation of requests for qualifications or the conduct of pricingnegotiations prior to contract award. All requests for qualifications shall besolicited through utilization of the Rhode Island vendor information program(RIVIP) as set forth in § 37-2-17.1.
(d) Each state department and each state government entitywhich procures the services of an attorney who is not an employee of thatdepartment or body shall, on or before March 1 of each year, prepare and submitto the director of the department of administration an annual report of outsidelegal services, which report shall identify and set forth:
(i) The name, firm, affiliation, and address of each attorneyor law firm retained by the department or entity during the previous calendaryear and/or of each attorney or law firm to whom the department or entity paidany fees or other payments during the previous calendar year;
(ii) The amount of all fees or other payments from publicfunds made by the department or entity to any such attorney or law firm duringthe previous calendar year.
(e) The director of the department of administration shallannually compile all annual reports of outside legal services and present them,together with an executive summary thereof, to the governor, the speaker of thehouse of representatives, the president of the senate, and the chairpersons ofthe senate and house committees on finance, not later than May 1 of each year.