Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 38, September 20, 2024
a)
Supplies and services may be procured through the competitive sealed proposal
method of source selection, on a case-by-case basis, when it is determined by
the Chief Procurement Officer that competitive sealed bidding is either not
practicable or advantageous to the State.
b) The types of procurements for which the
competitive sealed proposals method of source selection may be used without a
determination that competitive sealed bidding is either not practicable or
advantageous include the following:
1)
electronic data processing equipment, software, and services;
2) telecommunications equipment, software,
and services;
3) consulting
services; and
4) banking
services.
c) Factors to
be considered in determining whether competitive sealed bidding is either not
practical or advantageous include the following:
1) the nature of the procurement does not
permit an award to a low bidder who agrees by its bid to perform without
condition or reservation in accordance with the specification, delivery or
performance schedule, and all other terms and conditions of the Invitation for
Bids;
2) evaluation factors involve
the relative abilities of offerors to perform, including degrees of experience
or expertise, where the types of supplies or services may require the use of
comparative, judgmental evaluations to evaluate them adequately, or where the
type of need to be satisfied involves weighing aesthetic values to the extent
that price is a secondary consideration;
3) whether oral or written discussions may
need to be conducted with offerors concerning technical and price aspects of
their proposals;
4) whether
offerors may need to be afforded the opportunity to revise their proposals,
including price;
5) whether the
award may need to be based upon a comparative evaluation, as stated in the
Request for Proposals, of differing price, quality, and contractual factors in
order to determine the most advantageous offering to the Treasurer's office.
Quality factors include technical and performance capability and the content of
the technical proposal; and
6) it
is otherwise not advantageous to the State, even though practicable, to use
competitive sealed bidding.
d) Prequalification
The Chief Procurement Officer may require that vendors are
prequalified in the manner described in Section
1400.2005 for competitive sealed
bidding.
e) Request for
Proposals
1) Solicitation. Proposals must be
solicited through a Request for Proposals that must contain the following
information:
A) A requirement that proposals
are submitted in two parts. The first part should cover all items except price
and the second part should cover price.
B) A statement that discussions may be
conducted with offerors who submit proposals determined to be reasonably
capable of being selected for award, but that proposals may be accepted without
a discussion.
C) A statement of
when and how price should be submitted.
2) Publication and Documentation of the
Request for Proposals. The Request for Proposals must be published as provided
in Section 1400.1505 and made part of the
procurement file.
f)
Receipt, Opening and Recording of Proposals
The date and time of receipt of proposals and modifications
must be recorded upon receipt, but the proposal and modifications must not be
opened and shall be held in a secure place until the established due date.
Proposals must be opened publicly in the presence of at least one witness at
the time and place designated in the Request for Proposals, but proposals must
be opened in a manner to avoid disclosure of their contents to competing
offerors. A record of proposals must be prepared and must be open for
inspection after contract is awarded. The record of proposals must include for
all proposals the name of each offeror, the number of modifications received,
if any, and a description sufficient to identify the supply or service item
offered. The record of proposals must be made part of the procurement file and
be open to public inspection after award of the contract.
g) Evaluation of Proposals
1) Evaluation Factors in the Request for
Proposals. The RFP must state all of the evaluation factors, including price,
and their relative importance. All evaluation factors stated will be considered
equally unless otherwise indicated in the RFP.
2) Evaluation. The evaluation must be based
on the evaluation factors in the RFP. Factors not specified in the RFP must not
be considered. Numerical rating systems may be used but are not required. The
first part of all proposals covering items other than price must be evaluated
and ranked independently of the second part of all proposals.
h) Proposal Discussions with
Individual Offerors
1) Offerors may be given a
fair and equal opportunity to discuss their proposals.
2) Purposes of Discussions. Discussions are
held to:
A) promote understanding of the
Treasurer's office requirements and the offerors' proposals; and
B) facilitate arriving at a contract that is
most advantageous to the State taking into consideration price and the other
evaluation factors in the Request for Proposals.
3) Clarification of the Request for
Proposals. If during discussions there is a need for any substantial
clarification of, or change in, the Request for Proposals, the Request for
Proposals must be amended to incorporate the clarification or change. Any
substantial oral clarification of a proposal must be reduced to writing by the
offeror.
4) Best and Final Offers.
The Chief Procurement Officer may request best and final offers with a common
date and time for submission of the offers. The Chief Procurement Officer, or
his or her designee, may conduct additional discussions or change the
Treasurer's office requirements and require another submission of best and
final offers. If an offeror does not submit either a notice of withdrawal or
another best and final offer, that offeror's immediately previous offer will be
construed as its best and final offer.
5) Disclosure of Information. In conducting
discussions there must be no disclosure of any information derived from
proposals submitted by competing offerors. Any other information that is
disclosed to any offeror must be provided to all competing offerors.
i) Award
1) Determination. The Chief Procurement
Officer must make the award in accordance with a written determination showing
the basis on which the award was found to be the most advantageous to the
State, based on the Request for Proposals.
2) Notification, Publication and
Documentation of the Award. The successful offeror will be promptly notified of
the award. The notification of the award and the written determination must be
published as provided in Section
1400.1505 and made part of the
procurement file.
3) Unsuccessful
offerors may be allowed a debriefing when determined by the Chief Procurement
Officer to be in the best interests of the State.
