By Attorneys Danielle Haindfield, Kristine Stone, Maria Brownell, and Conner Wasson

On April 21, 2022, Governor Reynolds signed Senate File 2279 into law. This new law affects public improvement projects in the State of Iowa. This new law affects public improvement projects in the State of Iowa, effective July 1, 2022.

Senate File 2279 amends Iowa Code sections 26.7 & 26.10 to allow public owners to accept electronic bids for public improvement projects. The new law allows the governmental entity to determine the format in which the electronic bids will be received. The notice to bidders may specify if bids are being accepted electronically. Bids accepted electronically must still be accompanied by appropriate bid security and must otherwise comply with the requirements of Iowa Code Chapter 26.

This means that bids must still be sealed and an electronic record must be kept regarding the date and time they are received by the governmental entity. A binding form of bid security must also be provided with the bid. A governmental entity will need to engage a service provider or purchase software that can facilitate these requirements. Accepting bids by email, for example, would not be sufficient to comply with the law. Governmental entities should work closely with their design/construction administration team and legal counsel to ensure electronic bid procedures comply with the new law.

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Do you proof your emails carefully before you send them? If you’re like most people, you don’t, unless the email is important. Get in the habit of proofing your emails before you hit send.

Here are a few pointers to proofing your email message (or any content really).

• Read it backwards – If you’ve read your message a few times from start to finish, your brain knows what is supposed to come next and fills in the blanks. Read the last sentence first, then the second-to-last sentence, then the third-to-last sentence, and so on. This offers a fresh perspective, and you may catch something that you wouldn’t have otherwise.
  
• Check contractions and apostrophes – People often mix their and they’re, its and it’s, and your and you’re. Look for these in your messages and double check to make sure that you’re using the right one. Also, don’t forget that apostrophes are never used to form plurals.
  
• Eliminate distractions and interruptions – Many people email while multitasking. Try to avoid this practice to prevent grammatical and punctuation errors in your emails.
  
• Make the text bigger – View text at 125 or 150 percent. Bigger text makes it easier to read and can slow your reading so you catch issues that you might not if the text were smaller.
  
• Recheck sentences after you make changes – If you change anything in a sentence, read the entire sentence again to make sure it still makes sense.
  
• Read your message aloud – Reading aloud forces you to say (and hear) each word.

IAMU has reconfigured some of its office space as a classroom and break area to provide members with an environment most conducive to learning and testing.

“When we restructured some positions, we were left with extra space in our office,” explained Troy DeJoode, IAMU Executive Director. “We are always member-focused, so the first question that we asked ourselves was, ‘What would be the best use of this space for our members?’”

The 929 square feet space includes a classroom and break area. Tables have electrical power and Internet access. This means IAMU can hold classes with computer-based training and/or testing. The room comfortably holds 16 people. For lecture-style classes, the space can accommodate 24 people.