Topeka ? The state announced Friday that it has renegotiated a Homeland Security contract that previously provided a contractor $1 million in middleman fees, but lawmakers continue to express concern.

“How are we negotiating?” asked Sen. Jim Barone, of Frontenac, the ranking Democrat on the House-Senate Committee on Kansas Security.

“Once you get caught, we’ll fix it, and if you don’t get caught, we keep going,” Barone said.

Barone and other lawmakers said they were concerned over the state’s contract with Fisher Scientific Inc. of Houston.

The company was hired by the state as the sole-source provider of emergency equipment purchased with federal Homeland Security dollars that flowed mostly through the Kansas Highway Patrol.

For equipment it didn’t have, Fisher would broker the deal with other vendors, charging local emergency management agencies a 12 percent fee for purchases less than $20,000 and 5 percent if local agencies spent more than that.

In February, the Lawrence Journal-World reported that several local governments were complaining about the fees. A subsequent state audit found that Fisher Scientific had taken nearly $1 million in fees in 2005.

The report by the Legislative Division of Post Audit called for the state to renegotiate the contract and lower the fees.

Chris Howe, the head of purchasing for the state, said that is what happened.

He said the fees recently were cut in half – 6 percent for purchases less than $20,000 and 2.5 percent for purchase of more than that amount.

He said the previous higher fees had been negotiated between Fisher Scientific and the Highway Patrol when the state received millions of new dollars in Homeland Security grants.

“It was sort of a handshake agreement between Fisher Scientific and the Highway Patrol,” Howe said.

Highway Patrol officials have said local agencies could have used a waiver process to buy directly from vendors, but some of those agencies have said the process to get that waiver was cumbersome.

At least three representatives of Fisher Scientific were at the meeting but declined to comment when invited to by lawmakers.

Shirley Allen, a lobbyist representing Fisher Scientific, told the Journal-World, “We’ve been working very closely with them (state officials).” She declined further comment.

Rep. Lee Tafanelli, R-Ozawkie, and a member of the security committee, said the renegotiated contract is a “step in the right direction.”

“I still have reservations, and there are a lot of concerns amongst the counties and local communities,” Tafanelli said.

The committee asked the post audit division to look at the new contract and report back at the panel’s next meeting, which hasn’t been scheduled yet.