In other Department of Administration news, the agency held a bid opening last week for a new multi-million dollar staffing contract.

Smith Hill watchers know the controversy surrounding the administration’s no-bid award last fall of a short-term contract, worth $7 million to $11 million, to the Foxboro, Conn.-based Smart Staffing Service company to fill hundreds of staffing positions across state government.

Under what was called a “unique deal” by others in the industry who were shut out of the bidding, the company has prepaid the salaries and a 22.5-percent premium before each biweekly payroll. A Senate oversight committee held months of hearings on the controversial arrangement, approved by an in-house consultant selection panel that included a lawyer in the Department of Administration with school ties to Smart Staffing owner Craig Provost.

The bid opening for a successor contract drew nine letters of interest from companies interested in a piece of this state-paid private employment contract.

In addition to Smart Staffing, they include: Adil Business Systems, of New York, Anderson & Bates Staffing Solutions, of Arizona, Moten Tate Inc., of Florida, and, closer to home, the Corporate Search Group, Flagship Staffing Services , Maxim Healthcare Service, Occupations Unlimited, and RI Temps.

The Department of Administration has not made any details of the competing proposals public and no firm date has been set for a decision on the award of a single or multiple private staffing contracts.