A.
Competitive sealed proposals shall be solicited through a request for
proposals. A request for proposals shall include the following:
1. Instructions to offerors, including:
a. Instructions and information to offerors
concerning proposal submission requirements, including the means for proposal
submission such as, hand delivery, U.S. mail, electronic mail, facsimile, or
other acceptable means, the proposal due date and time, the address of the
office at which proposals or other documents are to be received, the proposal
acceptance period, and any other special information or requirements;
b. The manner by which the offeror is
required to acknowledge amendments;
c. Notification of whether the school
district may award multiple contracts and the school district's basis for
determining whether to award multiple contracts. If multiple contracts may be
awarded, the request for proposals shall include the criteria the school
district will use for selecting vendors for each contract under the multiple
award, including as applicable, whether contracts will be awarded by individual
line items, groups of line items, or categories, whether contracts will be
awarded incrementally, and whether contracts will be awarded by designated
regions or locations;
d. The
minimum information required in the proposal;
e. The specific requirements for designating
trade secrets and other proprietary data as confidential;
f. Any specific responsibility
criteria;
g. Whether the offeror is
required to submit samples, descriptive literature, and technical data with the
proposal;
h. Evaluation factors and
the relative importance of price and other evaluation factors. Specific
numerical weighting is not required;
i. Procurement of earth-moving,
material-handling, road maintenance and construction equipment shall include as
evaluation factors the total life cycle cost including residual value of the
earth-moving, material-handling, road maintenance and construction equipment
and, to the extent practicable, the cost of outright purchase;
j. A statement specifying where documents
incorporated by reference may be obtained;
k. A statement that the school district may
cancel the solicitation or reject a proposal in whole or in part if deemed
advantageous to the school district;
l. Notice that the offeror is required to
certify that submission of the proposal did not involve collusion or other
anticompetitive practices and that the offeror has taken steps and exercised
due diligence to ensure that no violation of A.R.S. §
15-213(O)
has occurred;
m. Notice that the offeror is required to
declare whether the offeror has been debarred, suspended, or otherwise lawfully
prohibited from participating in any public procurement activity, including,
but not limited to, being disapproved as a subcontractor of any public
procurement unit or other governmental body;
n. Any bid security required;
o. Any cost or pricing data
required;
p. The type of contract
to be used;
q. A statement that
discussions may be conducted with offerors who submit proposals determined to
be reasonably susceptible of being awarded a contract;
r. The date, time and location of any
pre-proposal conference;
s. The
name of the district representative or district representatives;
t. A description of all information that will
be recorded and available for public inspection at proposal opening;
u. Notice that all information and proposals
submitted by offerors will be made available for public inspection following
the award of the contract; and
v.
Whether the school district will consider partial proposals for award of a
contract.
2.
Specifications, including:
a. The purchase
description, delivery or performance schedule, and inspection and acceptance
requirements, as applicable;
b. If
a brand name or equal specification is used, instructions that the use of a
brand name is for the purpose of describing the standard of quality,
performance, and other characteristics needed to meet the school district's
requirements and is not intended to limit or restrict competition. The
solicitation shall state that products substantially equivalent to those brands
designated shall qualify for consideration; and
c. Any other specification requirements
specific to the solicitation.
3. Contract terms and conditions, including:
a. Warranty and bonding or other security
requirements, as applicable;
b. The
length of the contract and whether the contract will include an option for
extension; and
c. Any other
contract terms and conditions.
4. When using electronic competitive sealed
proposals, the request for proposals shall specify whether electronic
submission of proposals is required or optional, the electronic submission
requirements, and the electronic signature requirements.