The Idaho Department of Administration has declared an emergency and signed a $1.88 million, six-month contract with CenturyLink to provide internet service to 16 state agencies and five public health districts, the Idaho Statesman reports. The department had shifted the agencies’ internet service to the now-defunct Idaho Education Network contract with CenturyLink and Education Networks of America; that meant when the contract was declared illegal by a judge last month, the deal was no good.

"Discontinuance of services provided through this contract creates an immediate threat to the health, welfare and safety of the citizens of Idaho," state Division of Purchasing Administrator Bill Burns wrote in a Feb. 27 memo declaring an emergency, Statesman reporter Cynthia Sewell reports. State Administration Director Teresa Luna and CenturyLink signed the $1.88 million, 39-page contract that same day. Sewell’s full report is online here.

She reports that it’s not the first time the department has declared an emergency regarding the IEN. In late 2008, then-Director Mike Gwartney declared an emergency to quickly put out the bid request for the $60 million IEN contract, the same one that courts later found was awarded illegally.