FILE - This Sept. 15, 2015 file photo shows marijuana plants a few weeks away from harvest in a medical marijuana cultivation center in Albion, Ill. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File)

The agreement to have an out-of-state consultant grade the applications for Arkansas’ first medical marijuana dispensaries was finalized Thursday, clearing the way for the first dispensaries to be licensed in about a month, the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration confirmed.

State officials and Boston-based consultant Public Consulting Group Inc. have been in contract negations since the company submitted the lowest bid on Aug. 17.

Public Consulting Group will have 30 days to grade the 203 dispensary applications once they’re received. The company will be paid $99,472 for its work.

The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission — a five-member board comprised of appointees — graded the almost 100 cultivation license applications themselves earlier in the year, but they voted to outsource dispensary scoring due to time constraints and a myriad of controversies that surrounded the cultivation license process.

Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.