Special to the Chronicle

The taxpayers’ tab for a global consulting firm has grown to more than $735,000.

It’s unclear if that’s the final bill.

The state hired the ICF firm last year to help a lawmaker-controlled study committee with the possible sale of Santee Cooper.

The SC Department of Administration is being tight-lipped about the expensive process it will use to evaluate bids and proposals for the sale or a management agreement.

Lawmakers last month told the main administrator for state government to establish a competitive bidding process.

It also required Santee Cooper executives to submit their own proposal for reform, restructuring and changes in operations.

Talk of selling Santee Cooper rose after the 2017 collapse of the $9 billion nuclear project Santee Coper and SC Electric & Gas mismanaged.

The Department of Administration must submit sales and management proposals and Santee Cooper’s restructuring plan to lawmakers by Jan. 15, 2020.

170 lawmakers will decide which to approve.

The public could be left in the dark even after lawmakers receive the recommendations.

The resolution says certain information that could be released under the state’s open-records law “must not be released without the written permission of the entity whose bid or proposal was recommended.”

The resolution allows the 664-employee department with a $441.2 million budget to hire outside consultants and lawyers to qualify and evaluate bids as well as negotiate contracts.

The Senate has paid $317,581 to ICF while the House paid $228,239 plus $189,601 for a grand total of $735,422.

Brundrett is the news editor of The Nerve ( www.thenerve.org). Contact him at 803-254-4411 or rick@thenerve.org .