Personal, Professional, and Consulting Services

A profession is a vocation founded upon prolonged and specialized intellectual training that enables a particular service to be rendered. The word “professional” implies professed attainments in special knowledge, as distinguished from mere skill. External contracts for professional services may be negotiated by the end user with a responsible contractor without competitive bidding. For contracts with a total amount of compensation of $50,000 or more, the definition of professional service shall be limited to lawyers, doctors, dentists, psychologists, certified advanced practice nurses, veterinarians, architects, engineers, land surveyors, landscape architects, accountants, actuaries, claims adjusters and any other profession that may be added by regulations adopted by the Office of Contractual Review of the Division of Administration.

Personal Services

Personal services include work rendered by individuals that requires use of creative or artistic skills, such as, but not limited to, graphic artists, sculptors, musicians, photographers, and writers or that require use of highly technical or unique individual skills or talents, such as, but not limited to, paramedics, therapists, handwriting analysts, foreign representatives, and expert witnesses for adjudications or other court proceedings. External contracts for personal services may, regardless of the amount of compensation, be negotiated by the end user with a responsible contractor without competitive bidding.

Consulting Services

Consulting services include work, other than professional or personal services, rendered by either individuals or firms who posses specialized knowledge, experience, and expertise to investigate assigned problems or projects and to provide counsel, review, design, development, analysis or advise in formulating or implementing programs or services or improvements in programs and services, including but not limited to such areas as management, personnel, finance, accounting, planning, data processing, and advertising contracts. External contracts for consulting services where the total amount of compensation is less than $50,000 may be negotiated by the end user with a responsible contractor without competitive bidding. Contracts for $50,000 or more must be awarded by Request for Proposals (RFP) pursuant to the requirements of Louisiana R.S. 39:1503. Failure to comply shall result in having to re-do the entire process.

Prior to commencement date on any contract, the contract shall have been received and approved by the Purchasing Dept. For contracts exceeding $20,000, please allow a sixty (60) day lead time for approvals. Contracts $20,000 or greater must have Office of Contractual Review approval