[Vision2020] Opportunity for cronyism?

[Ron Force]

In Idaho, even a hated policy like Obamacare is an opportunity:

From "Eye on Idaho", Spokesman Review:

Idaho exchange board member quits, gets big no-bid contract
Posted by Betsy
Oct. 17, 2013 12:13 p.m.  •  0 comments
A board member of the Idaho health insurance exchange quit Wednesday, the same day the exchange awarded his company a no-bid contract worth up to $375,000, the Associated Press reports. Frank Chan resigned from the Your Health Idaho board to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest, board members said. Chan's company, Boise-based Applied Computing, will serve as the exchange's information technology consultant; click below for a full report from AP reporter John Miller.
Earlier this year, Miller reports, Chan was appointed by Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter to help oversee the Internet marketplace created under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. It allows people to shop for insurance and learn if they qualify for federal subsidies. He had been technology chairman of the 19-member volunteer board. Chan will now earn $180 an hour to oversee the exchange's technology vendors as it works to replace a glitch-filled federal software system with one that's state-based by next year. The exchange is seeking a $50 million, taxpayer-funded grant from the federal government to pay for that project.
From the AP story:
Generally, Idaho requires public contracts that exceed $25,000 to be awarded competitively.
Idaho's Legislature this year required the exchange to solicit bids but then exempted it from state procurement rules, allowing its leaders to largely set its own policies on deals with private vendors.
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