# Massachusetts Agency Faces Procurement Scrutiny

A Massachusetts service provider alleges that an unidentified state agency engaged several individuals as independent contractors through a pilot program using a heavily redacted Request for Responses (RFR) that had expired in 2017, without competitive bidding. The poster also says rates could not be negotiated and that providers were treated differently from comparable agencies. The discussion does not identify the agency or contract value and provides no corroboration, so the claims raise procurement-process and worker-classification questions but do not establish that rules were violated.

- Procurement teams can use the allegations to identify review points: whether the solicitation was current, what authority supported the engagements, and whether competition and rate-setting processes were documented.
- Agencies and service providers may wish to verify how independent-contractor classification and comparable-provider treatment were handled; the signal does not provide details sufficient to assess either issue.

**Jurisdictions:** sled
**Topics:** Regulatory Compliance
**Published:** September 29, 2026

### Government Entities
- Unspecified Massachusetts state agency

### Key Quotes
> We were never able to negotiate rates. We were treated completely different than other agencies providing the same services.
> — Original poster

### Sources
- [MA gov service providers](https://www.reddit.com/r/GovernmentContracting/comments/1wtgnwm/ma_gov_service_providers) - reddit-governmentcontracting