The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission is accelerating the timeline to receive offers from prospective third-party contractors to score and review more than 200 medical marijuana dispensary applications, according to bid proposal details released Wednesday by the five-person regulatory panel.

Instead of an original 30 to 45 days schedule to get back responses to the commission’s proposal to scour dispensaries applications, the Department of Finance and Administration’s Office of Procurement’s “scope of work” proposal sent out Tuesday was stamped with an Aug. 16, 2 p.m. “due by” date to receive bids from eligible companies competing for the “low-bid” contract. The applications have been on hold since September.

In two specially-called meetings in July to discuss turning this task over to an outside contractor, the AMMC commissioners groused about a longer timetable that would take a minimum of 30 days. However, the tighter deadline will cut that schedule in half, said DFA spokesman Scott Hardin.     MORE