TALLAHASSEE, Florida (BestWire) — Florida chief financial officer Alex Sink called on Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to open up its bidding process after learning the state's insurer of last resort entered into 33 contracts worth nearly $50 million without competitive bidding.

Contract reforms are needed to allow all qualified businesses to compete, Sink said in an August 13 letter to Scott Wallace, Citizen's president, CEO and executive director. Citizens has too often cited an "emergency" exemption to make contract agreements, including at least one to a single vendor for a multi-year contract, she said.

"While I understand that true emergencies may occasionally require the board to take immediate action, I am concerned that Citizens may be relying too often on emergency exemptions to the competitive solicitation process," Ms Sink wrote.

The letter came in advance of a scheduled meeting between Citizens officials and the CFO's office to discuss contracting procedures. Ms Sink said the state Department of Financial Services has implemented contracting reforms that include mandatory training, online posting of current contracts and the assigning of a manager to all contracts over $35,000.

"Citizens is a quasi-governmental entity with an important public purpose, and therefore it has an obligation to be accountable and transparent to the people of Florida in its contracting processes. A competitive, open solicitation process is the best way to ensure that Floridians' money is being spent wisely," Ms Sink wrote.

Candace Bunker, a spokeswoman for Citizens, wrote in an e-mail: "We have received CFO Sink's letter and will be following up with her office on the issues she has raised.

"Mr. Wallace shares the CFO's commitment to ensuring the highest level of accountability and transparency to the people of Florida in this and all matters relating to Citizens,"

Citizens submitted an across-the-board rate hike averaging 8.4 percent for residential policyholders in July. If approved by Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty, the increase will be as high as 11.4 percent in some South Florida coastal locales, and could actually drop in others, like Miami Beach.

On top of the increase, the board was also asked to tack on an additional 0.7 percent policy to boost the coffers of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, the state-run reinsurer.

Ms Sink is a Democratic candidate for governor. The primary election is on August 24; early voting began August 9.