The president of Iowa’s Board of Regents is predicting policy changes that will further limit the manner in which contracts are awarded by the three state universities. Bruce Rastetter's comments come after Iowa State University and the University of Iowa both awarded contracts to individuals with Republican ties without taking bids on the work.
Rastetter says that the individuals getting the state work are capable and qualified, but without taking bids on the work, "the optics are not pretty."
"I believe in those situations, the university should do a bid process, so we'll be talking about that. We have with all three universities, and as a part of our board policy, we'll be looking at that number, that threshold that exists where they don't have to go out to bid. And I would guess in April, you'd see us have specific policy changes that will reflect around that."
During this River to River conversation, host Ben Kieffer talks with Rastetter about the hiring of the University of Iowa's new president, Bruce Harreld; funding at Iowa's regents universities; and the first ever Agriculture Summit he hosted last spring.
