In 2017, lawmakers approved a bill that then-Gov. Phil Bryant signed into law that required reverse auctions for contracts for $50,000 or more.
While reverse auctions are the law in Mississippi, the state’s Public Procurement Review Board has handed out hundreds of exemptions for state and local government entities each year.
In just the last two years, the board has approved 209 exemptions that are worth an estimated value of more than $156 million.