Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 38, September 20, 2024
a) The provisions of this Section apply to
the procurement of professional and artistic services with the exception of the
following:
1) sole source
procurements;
2) emergency
procurements;
3) any procurement of
professional and artistic services less than the small purchase threshold then
in effect pursuant to Section
1400.2020(a)
for a nonrenewable term of less than one year made as a small purchase;
and
4) architect, engineering and
land surveying services procured pursuant to the procedures of the
Architectural, Engineering, and Land Surveying Qualifications Based Selection
Act [30
ILCS 535 ].
b) Written Determinations Required Prior to
Request for Proposals
Prior to announcing the need for professional or artistic
services, the Chief Procurement Officer shall make a written determination that
explains the nature of the services and how the Chief Procurement Officer
reached the determination that the services are professional or artistic. The
written determination must be made part of the procurement file.
c) Professional and artistic
services shall be procured using a Request for Proposals.
1) Contents. The RFP must be drafted or
approved by the Chief Procurement Officer and must contain at least the
following information:
A) the type and scope
of services required;
B) a date by
which proposals for the performance of the services must be
submitted;
C) the type of
information and data required of each offeror;
D) how the price should be
presented;
E) the factors to be
used in the evaluation and selection process and their relative importance (all
evaluation factors stated will be considered equally unless otherwise indicated
in the RFP); and
F) when
practicable, a draft contract with a notice to the vendors that by submitting a
response they are consenting to the terms and conditions of the draft agreement
and agree to be bound by a final agreement that is substantially similar to the
draft.
2) Evaluation.
Proposals must be evaluated only on the basis of evaluation factors stated in
the Request for Proposals. The relative importance of the evaluation factors
will vary according to the type of services being procured. Factors may
include:
A) the plan for performing the
required services;
B) ability to
perform the services as reflected by technical training and education, general
experience, specific experience in providing the required services, and the
qualifications and abilities of personnel proposed to be assigned to perform
the services;
C) the personnel,
equipment, and facilities to perform the services currently available or
demonstrated to be made available at the time of contracting; and
D) a record of past performance of similar
work.
3) Publication and
Filing. The Request for Proposal must be published as provided in Section
1400.1505 and must be made part
of the procurement file.
d) Bidders' Conferences
Bidders' conferences may be conducted to enhance
understanding of the procurement requirements. The conference may be designated
as attendance mandatory or attendance optional. The conference should be held
long enough after the Request for Proposals has been issued to allow proposers
to become familiar with it, but sufficiently before the opening of proposals to
allow consideration of the conference results in preparing their proposals. Any
questions posed in a bidders' conference shall be subsequently submitted in
writing and, along with the answers, shall be published on the Treasurer's Web
Site as provided in Section 1400.1505. Nothing stated in the bidders'
conference changes the Request for Proposals unless a change is made by written
amendment to the Request for Proposals. The Chief Procurement Officer shall
cause a listing of all attendees at a bidders' conference to be prepared and
made a part of the procurement file.
e) Amendments to Requests for Proposals
1) Form. Amendments to Requests for Proposals
must be published as provided in Section
1400.1505 and must be made part
of the procurement file.
2)
Distribution. Amendments must be sent to all prospective proposers known to
have received a Request for Proposal.
3) Timeliness. Amendments must be published
within a reasonable time to allow prospective bidders to consider them in
preparing their bids. If necessary, the Chief Procurement Officer may extend
the response time by amending the RFP as provided for in this subsection
(e)(3).
f) Receipt and
Handling of Proposals
Proposals and modifications must be sent to the Chief
Procurement Officer where they must be recorded upon receipt, but not opened,
and held in a secure place until the established due date and time, at which
time they will be opened by the Chief Procurement Officer. Proposals must not
be opened publicly nor disclosed to unauthorized persons and must be opened in
the presence of at least one witness. A record of proposals that includes the
following must be established for all proposals: the name of each offeror, the
number of modifications received, if any, and a description sufficient to
identify the services offered. The record of proposals must be open to public
inspection only after award of the contract and must be made part of the
procurement file at that time.
g) Discussions
1) Discussions Permissible. The Chief
Procurement Officer shall evaluate all proposals submitted and may conduct
discussions with any proposer. The purposes of the discussions are to:
A) determine in greater detail the proposer's
qualifications; and
B) explore with
the offeror the scope and nature of the required services, the offeror's
proposed method of performance, and the relative utility of alternative methods
of approach.
2) No
Disclosure of Information. No information derived from proposals submitted by
an offeror may be disclosed to any other proposer.
3) Best and Final Offers. The Chief
Procurement Officer may request best and final offers with a common date and
time for submission of the proposals. The Chief Procurement Officer may conduct
additional discussions or change the specifications or other contract
requirements and require another submission of best and final proposals. If a
proposer does not submit either a notice of withdrawal or another best and
final offer, the proposer's immediate previous proposal will be construed as
its best and final proposal.
h) Negotiation and Award of Contract
1) General. The Chief Procurement Officer, in
conjunction with the Chief Legal Counsel or designee, shall negotiate a
contract with the best qualified proposer, based on the evaluation factors in
the request for proposals, for the required services at compensation determined
in writing to be fair and reasonable.
2) Successful Negotiation of Contract with
Best-Qualified Proposer. If compensation, contract requirements, and contract
documents can be agreed upon with the best-qualified proposer, the contract
must be awarded to that proposer, unless the procurement is
cancelled.
3) Failure to Negotiate
Contract with Best-Qualified Offeror
A) If
compensation, contract requirements, or contract documents cannot be agreed
upon with the best qualified proposer, a written record stating the reasons
must be made part of the procurement file and the Chief Procurement Officer
shall advise that proposer of the termination of negotiations.
B) Upon failure to negotiate a contract with
the best-qualified offeror, the Chief Procurement Officer may enter into
negotiations with the next most qualified offeror.
4) Evaluation of Pricing Data
Pricing submitted for all acceptable proposals timely
submitted shall be opened and ranked.
A) If the low price is submitted by the most
qualified vendor, the CPO may award to that vendor.
B) If the price of the most qualified vendor
is not low and if it does not exceed $100,000, the CPO may award to that
vendor.
C) If the price of the best
qualified vendor exceeds $100,000, the CPO must state why a vendor other than
the low priced vendor was selected and that determination shall be published as
provided in Section 1400.1505 and must be made part
of the procurement file.
5) Notice of Award. Written notice of award
must be promptly provided to the successful offeror, published as provided in
Section 1400.1505 and made a part of the
procurement file. The notice must provide, at a minimum, the following:
A) the name of the Chief Procurement
Officer;
B) the successful
vendor;
C) the type of services to
be provided; and
D) the amount of
the contract, which may be an amount not-to-exceed, along with any applicable
rates.
