Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 38, September 20, 2024
a) Application
1) The provisions of this Section apply to
every procurement of professional and artistic services except those subject to
the Architectural, Engineering and Land Surveying Qualifications Based
Selection Act [30 ILCS 535 ] and except as provided in Section
2000.2035(e).
2) "Professional and artistic services" means
those services provided under contract to a State agency by a person or
business, acting as an independent contractor, qualified by education,
experience, and technical ability [30 ILCS
500/1-15.60] .
b) Professional and artistic services are
further defined as follows:
1) "Qualified by
education" means the individual who would perform the services must have
obtained the level of education specified in the Request for
Proposals.
2) "Qualified by
experience" means the individual who would perform the services must have the
level of general experience specified in the Request for Proposals.
3) "Qualified by technical ability" means the
individual who would perform the services must demonstrate a high degree of
skill or ability in performing services that are the same, similar or closely
related in nature to those specified in the Request for Proposals.
4) An essential element distinguishing
professional and artistic services from other services is confidence, trust,
and belief in not only the ability, but the talent, of the individual
performing the service. These services are primarily for intellectual or
creative skills. Contracts for services primarily involving manual skills or
labor are not professional and artistic services contracts. (See Illinois
Attorney General Opinion S-256, January 20, 1971.)
5) If the professional or artistic contract
is with a firm or other business entity, the individuals whose education,
experience and technical ability provided the basis on which the firm or other
business entity was selected must meet the qualifications.
6) When SOS requires services that meet the
requirements of this subsection (b), the competitive selection procedures
described in this Section must be followed. Services that do not meet the
requirements of this Section must be procured in accordance with other methods
of source selection authorized by the Code and this Part.
c) The categories of services enumerated
below shall be considered and procured as professional and artistic services.
With regard to other services, the SPO may determine whether the factors
identified in subsection (b), when applied to particular services to be
procured, require such services to be procured as professional and artistic
under these competitive selection procedures, or as services that are subject
to one of the other methods of source selection authorized by the Code and this
Part. The following categories are examples of disciplines that would always be
professional and artistic services:
1)
law;
2) accounting;
3) medicine;
4) dentistry; and
5) clinical psychology.
d) Architect, engineering and land surveying
services shall be procured pursuant to the procedures of the Architectural,
Engineering, and Land Surveying Qualifications Based Selection Act [30 ILCS 535
]. Such procurements are not subject to the procedures for other professional
services established in the Code or this Part.
e) Conditions for Use of Competitive
Selection Procedures
Except as authorized under Section 20-25 (Sole Source
Procurement) or Section 20-30 (Emergency Procurements) of the Code, these
competitive selection procedures shall be used for all procurements of
professional and artistic services of $20,000 or more. Services of less than
$20,000 and for a nonrenewable term of one year or less may be procured in
accordance with Section
2000.2020 (Small
Purchases) of this Part.
f)
Prequalification. The CPO shall maintain a list of prequalified professional
and artistic vendors in accordance with Section
2000.2045 of
this Part. Persons may amend statements of qualifications at any time by filing
a new statement. Failure of a professional and artistic vendor to prequalify
shall not be cause for rejection of a proposal provided that the responsive
offeror supplies with its proposal all information defined by the
prequalification process.
g) Public
Notice of Competitive Selection Procedures
1)
Notice of the need for professional and artistic services shall be made by the
Procurement Officer in the form of a Request for Proposals.
2) Notice shall be given as provided in
Section
2000.2010
(Competitive Sealed Bidding) of this Part.
3) Notice shall also be distributed to
prequalified persons interested in performing the services required by the
proposed contract.
h)
Request for Proposals
1) Contents. The
Request for Proposals shall be in the form specified by the CPO and shall
contain at least the following information:
A)
the type of services required;
B) a
description of the work involved;
C) an estimate of when and for how long the
services will be required;
D) the
type of contract to be used;
E) a
date by which proposals for the performance of the services shall be
submitted;
F) a statement of the
minimum information that the proposal shall contain, which may, by way of
example, include:
i) the name of the offeror,
the location of the offeror's principal place of business and, if different,
the place of performance of the proposed contract;
ii) if deemed relevant by the Procurement
Officer, the age of the offeror's business and average number of employees over
a previous period of time, as specified in the Request for Proposals;
iii) the abilities, qualifications, and
experience of all persons who would be assigned to provide the required
services;
iv) a listing of other
contracts under which services similar in scope, size, or discipline to the
required services were performed or undertaken within a previous period of
time, as specified in the Request for Proposals;
v) a plan, giving as much detail as is
practical, explaining how the services will be performed;
G) price (to be submitted in a separate
envelope in the proposal package and not mentioned elsewhere in the proposal
package); and
H) the factors to be
used in the evaluation and selection process and their relative
importance.
2)
Evaluation. Proposals shall be evaluated only on the basis of evaluation
factors stated in the Request for Proposals. Price will not be evaluated until
ranking of all proposals and identification of the most qualified vendor. The
relative importance of the evaluation factors will vary according to the type
of services being procured. The minimum factors are:
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.
i)
Pre-Proposal Conference
A pre-proposal conference, if appropriate, shall be conducted
in accordance with Section
2000.2010(f)
(Pre-Bid Conference). Such a conference may
be held anytime prior to the date established for submission of
proposals.
j) Delivery,
Receipt and Handling of Proposals
1) Proposals
shall be submitted to and opened by the SPO in accordance with instructions
given by the SPO.
2) Public Opening
A) Proposals and modifications shall be
opened publicly at the time, date and place designated in the Request for
Proposals.
B) Opening shall be
witnessed by a State employee or by any other person present, but the person
opening proposals shall not serve as witness. A record shall be prepared that
shall include 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 shall be open to public inspection after award
of the contract.
C) Proposals and
modifications shall be opened in a manner designed to avoid disclosing contents
to competitors. Only State personnel and contractual agents may review the
proposals prior to award.
D)
Proposals of offerors who are not awarded the contract shall not be open to
public inspection.
k) Discussions
1) Discussions Permissible. The Procurement
Officer may conduct discussions with any offeror to:
A) determine in greater detail such offeror'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. The Procurement Officer may allow changes to the proposal based on
those discussions.
2) No
Disclosure of Information. Discussions shall not disclose any information
derived from proposals submitted by other offerors, and the agency conducting
the procurement shall not disclose any information contained in any proposals
until after award of the proposed contract has been made. The proposal of the
offeror awarded the contract shall be open to public inspection except as
otherwise provided in the contract.
l) Selection of the Best Qualified Offerors
After conclusion of validation of qualifications, evaluation,
and discussion, the Procurement Officer shall rank the acceptable offerors in
the order of their respective qualifications.
m) Evaluation of Pricing Data
Pricing submitted for all proposals timely submitted shall be
opened and ranked.
1) If the low price
is submitted by the most qualified vendor, the Procurement Officer may award to
that vendor.
2) If the price of the
most qualified vendor is not low and if it does not exceed $25,000, the
Procurement Officer, but not a designee, may award to that vendor.
3) If the price of the best qualified vendor
exceeds $25,000, the Procurement Officer, but not a designee, must state why a
vendor other than the low priced vendor was selected and that determination
shall be published in the Bulletin.
n) Negotiation and Award of Contract
1) General. The Procurement Officer shall
attempt to negotiate a contract with the best qualified offeror for the
required services at fair and reasonable compensation. The Procurement Officer
may, in the interest of efficiency, negotiate with other vendors, while
negotiating with the best qualified vendor.
2) Elements of Negotiation. At a minimum,
contract negotiations shall be directed toward:
A) making certain that the offeror has a
clear understanding of the scope of the work, specifically, the essential
requirements involved in providing the required services;
B) determining that the offeror will make
available the necessary personnel and facilities to perform the services within
the required time; and
C) agreeing
upon compensation that is fair and reasonable, taking into account the
estimated value of the required services and the scope, complexity, and nature
of such services.
3)
Successful Negotiation of Contract with Best Qualified Offeror
A) If compensation, contract requirements,
and contract documents can be agreed upon with the best qualified offeror, the
contract shall be awarded to that offeror, unless the procurement is
canceled.
B) Compensation must be
determined in writing to be fair and reasonable. Fair and reasonable
compensation shall be determined by the Procurement Officer based on the
circumstances of the particular procurement, including but not limited to the
nature of the services needed, qualifications of the offerors, consideration of
range of prices received in the course of the procurement, and the agency's
identified budget.
4)
Failure to Negotiate Contract with Best Qualified Offeror
A) If compensation, contract requirements, or
contract documents cannot be agreed upon with the best qualified offeror, a
written record stating the reasons therefore shall be placed in the file. The
Procurement Officer shall advise such offeror of the termination of
negotiations.
B) Upon failure to
negotiate a contract with the best qualified offeror, the Procurement Officer
may enter into negotiations with the next most qualified offeror.
C) Nothing in this Section shall prohibit the
Procurement Officer from making a selection that represents the best value,
qualifications, price and other relevant factors established in the request for
proposals being considered. The Procurement Officer may, in considering best
value, determine the proposal from a fully qualified vendor that submitted the
lowest price to be the best value without further evaluation.
o) Notice of Award
Written notice of award shall be public information and made
a part of the contract file. The SPO shall publish the names of the responsible
decision makers of the purchasing agency, the name of the agency, the
successful vendor, a contract reference number or other identifier, and the
value of the contract. Publication shall be in the next available issue of the
Bulletin.
p) A CPO may
allow an SPO to publish notices of small, sole source and emergency
procurements of professional and artistic services under the jurisdiction of an
SPO.
q) Post Performance Review
The SPO shall require the using department to provide a
synopsis of the contract and shall rate the vendor's performance using the form
developed by the SPO. A copy of the completed form shall be provided to the
SPO.
