Current through September 24, 2024
(1)
Conditions for Use: Lease contracts shall be awarded by
competitive sealed proposals except as otherwise provided in 300.7
Method of Source Selection.
(2)
Request for Lease Proposals:
Proposals shall be solicited through a Request for Lease Proposals.
(3)
Required Content: Each
Request for Lease Proposals shall include the following:
a. Instructions and information to offerors
concerning the request for lease proposals submission requirements, the address
of the office to which proposals are to be delivered, the maximum time for
proposal acceptance by the State, the manner in which proposals are to be
submitted, including any forms for that purpose and any other special
information;
b. Timeline for
pre-proposal conference (if applicable), questions and posting of answers,
submission of proposals, notice of intent to award, post-award debriefing (if
applicable) as well as the deadline for protests. Such timeline should be
carefully considered to ensure that result of RLP will be ready to submit in
BRICKS not less than three months prior to the need for space and/or the
expiration of any current lease to allow for exercising of the unilateral 90
day extension clause contained in RPM Division standard lease should new lease
be rejected by the PPRB necessitating re-procurement;
c. Description of usable space desired,
location desired, length of initial term and any renewal terms desired,
evaluation factors, performance schedule and any inspection and acceptance
requirements that are not included in the description of space;
d. Form of lease contract to be utilized
including general and any supplementary contract terms and conditions,
including warranty and bonding or other security requirements, as applicable;
and
e. A statement that
discussions may be conducted with offerors who submit proposals determined to
be reasonably susceptible of being selected for award, but that proposals may
be accepted without such discussions.
(4)
Public Notice:
a.
Publication: Every lease not
otherwise exempt from competition per 300.2
Exemptions Not Requiring
Approval or 300.3
Exemptions Requiring Approval,
shall be publicized as follows:
i. In a
newspaper published in the county or municipality in which the space to be
leased is sought or a newspaper of statewide general circulation; and
ii. On the RPM Division website.
b.
Content of
Advertisement: Content shall be in accordance with 300.4(3)
Advertisement Form and shall be posted in the legal notice
section of the newspaper.
c.
Advertisement Time: Advertisements shall be published once each
week for two consecutive weeks with the second notice being published on or
after the 7
th calendar day after the first notice
was published. The date set for receipt of proposals must not be less than
fourteen (14) working days after the last notice appears in the newspaper.
Therefore, the date established for receipt of proposals must not be sooner
than the 15
th working day. Working days are defined
as days that your entity is officially open for business.
d.
Public Availability: The
Request for Lease Proposal package must be made available for any interested
party at the location specified in the published notice.
(5)
Pre-Proposal Conferences: If
provided for in the Request for Lease Proposals a Pre-Proposal Conference may
be conducted to explain the procurement requirements.
a.
Scheduling: The date, time
and location of the conference shall be identified in the Request for Lease
Proposals. In no case shall a Pre-Proposal Conference be held less than seven
(7) working days prior to the date established for receipt of proposals. If a
determination is made to hold a Pre-Proposal Conference after the Request for
Lease Proposals has been issued, notice of such conference shall be issued as
an Addendum to all known offerors and posted on the RPM Division website.
b.
Attendance:
Attendance by offerors shall not be made a requirement for submittal of a lease
proposal unless the agency procurement officer makes a determination that
attendance is critical to understanding the solicitation, however; all offerors
attending shall be required to sign an attendance sheet provided by the
soliciting agency and such attendance sheet shall be made available to all
offerors.
c.
Content:
The intent of the Pre-Proposal Conference shall to be to provide clarification
and explanation of the Request for Lease Proposal requirements. Any questions
shall be submitted in writing to the soliciting agency. Soliciting agency shall
not be responsible for any oral instruction or interpretation. Any need for
amendment to the Request for Lease Proposals generated by the Pre-Proposal
Conference shall be issued as an Addendum to all known offerors and posted on
the RPM Division website.
(6)
Amendments: Amendments to
Requests for Lease Proposals shall be identified as such and distributed to all
known potential offerors and posted on the RPM Division website within a
reasonable time prior to the date established for receipt of Lease Proposals to
allow prospective offerors to consider them in preparing their offers. If the
time and date set for receipt of Lease Proposals will not permit such
preparation, such time shall be extended in the amendment.
(7)
Pre-Opening Modification or
Withdrawal: Lease Proposals may be modified or withdrawn by written
notice received in the office designated in the Request for Lease Proposals
prior to the time and date set for receipt of Lease Proposals. Any withdrawn or
modified offer shall remain unopened in the procurement file.
(8)
Late Bids, Modifications or
Withdrawals: Any Lease Proposal received after the time and date set for
the receipt of Lease Proposals shall be deemed late, shall not be considered
and shall be returned to the offeror unopened. Requests to modify Lease
Proposals after the time and date set for the receipt of Lease Proposals will
not be considered. An offeror may be permitted to withdraw a Lease Proposal
after the time and date set for the receipt of Lease Proposals only if a
mistake is clearly evident on the proposal documents or where the offeror
submits proof of evidentiary value which clearly and convincingly demonstrates
that a mistake was made within twenty-four (24) hours of the time and date set
for the receipt of Lease Proposals. An offeror may freely correct any mistake
by modifying their Lease Proposal in conjunction with their best and final
offer; however, as agency or department may choose to award based upon initial
submission, offerors are cautioned not to rely on this opportunity.
(9)
Irregularities: The omission
of any information requested in the RLP may be considered as an informality, or
irregularity, by the awarding public body when in their opinion the omitted
information does not alter the amounts contained in the submitted Lease
Proposal, or place other offerors at a disadvantage.
(10)
Receipt: Lease Proposals
shall be opened publicly in the presence of one or more witnesses at the time
and place designated in the Request for Lease Proposals. The name and proposed
location each offer shall be read aloud and recorded on a Register of
Proposals.
(11)
Confidential
Data: The Agency Procurement Officer shall examine all offers to
identify any written requests for nondisclosure of trade secrets and other
proprietary data. Any disclosure of this information is subject to the
provisions of Mississippi Code of 1972, Annotated, Sections
25-61-9
and
79-23-1.
(12)
Evaluation
Factors: Where award is to be made based upon criteria other than total
cost alone, the Request for Lease Proposals shall clearly identify points to be
awarded for price and other evaluation factors.
a. For leases of 20,000 square feet or less,
evaluation shall be based upon compliance with mandatory minimum requirements
and total cost to the State only, except where the procurement officer of the
soliciting agency determines, subject to the concurrence of the RPM Division
Director this to be not practicable and/or advantageous to the State.
b. Evaluation based upon
compliance with mandatory minimum criteria and total cost to the State is
preferred, however; use of other evaluation factors may be included for leases
over 20,000 square feet. Examples of evaluation factors other than cost
include, but are not necessarily limited to the following:
i. Proposed Space Layout - Consideration may
be given to efficiency and operational effectiveness of layout of proposed
space.
ii. Location -
Consideration may be given to proximity of other governmental services,
convenience to public access, or centrality to a given service area; however,
this factor shall not be used to arbitrarily favor rural / suburban areas over
urban areas.
iii. Parking -
Consideration may be given to proximity of tenant and/or visitor parking;
however, this factor shall not be used to favor covered parking or surface
parking over garage parking.
iv.
References - Consideration may be given to past performance of Lessor based
upon written references provided by Offeror and/or obtained from previous
tenants of Offeror.
c.
In no case shall valuation of cost factors be less than 35% of the total points
available.
(13)
Evaluation Committee: Where evaluation factors other than cost are
included, an evaluation committee having the relevant experience necessary to
evaluate the proposals shall be established. Such committee shall have a
minimum of three (3) members from agency or department. Committee may also
include members from other agencies deemed to be subject matter experts.
(14)
Evaluation of
Proposals:
a. In order to
appropriately compare all Lease Proposals on an equal basis, costs shall be
evaluated utilizing the RPM Division standard form to calculate total of
recurring and one-time costs to the agency or department over the Lease Term
including:
i. Total Rent over the Lease Term
which, in the case of a Flat Rental Rate is the rate times the rentable area
times the Lease Term including all renewal periods, and in the case of a
Graduated Rental Rate is the rate times the rentable area times each applicable
sub-portion of the Lease Term and all renewal periods.
ii. Total Cost for Utilities over the Lease
Term where not included in Base Rent. In calculation of estimated utility
costs, differences in energy efficiency of HVAC and lighting among various
proposals may be taken into consideration.
iii. Total Cost for Janitorial where not
included in Base Rent.
iv. Total
Cost for Security where not included in Base Rent.
v. Total Cost for Parking if not included in Base
Rent. Proposals where parking is not included and no parking is available
meeting the RLP requirements, such proposals may be deemed
non-responsive.
vi. Total Cost for
any other items to be incurred by agency or department over the Lease Term as a
consequence of tenancy.
vii.
One-Time Cost of moving and relocation excluding costs or loss of efficiency by
staff of agency or department.
viii.
One-Time Cost of information technology installation where not included in Base
Rent.
b. Each proposed
space / layout shall be evaluated on RPM Space Evaluation Form for compliance
with space utilization requirements as well as overall space efficiency.
Variations of +/-10% for individual spaces may be deemed to be in compliance so
long as cumulative impact of such variations does not cause overall space
efficiency to exceed 250 SF / Occupant. Where proposals exceed this space
efficiency value but offer a lower overall cost to the State, the agency or
department may consider such proposals and seek approval for deviation by PPRB;
however, where no such cost advantage exists, such proposals shall be rejected
as non-responsive.
c. Where
evaluation factors other than cost are included, the evaluation committee shall
evaluate proposals only in accordance with the methodology and weighting
criteria described in the Request for Lease Proposals. Costs shall be evaluated
utilizing the RPM Division Total Cost Evaluation Form. Proposals shall be
initially classified as: "acceptable"; "potentially acceptable", which means
reasonably susceptible of being made acceptable; or "unacceptable". Offerors
whose proposals are deemed "unacceptable" shall be so notified promptly.
d. Discussions with Responsible
Offerors and Revisions to Lease Proposals: If provided for in the Request for
Lease Proposals and as set forth in these regulations, discussions may be
conducted with responsible offerors who submit lease proposals determined to be
reasonably susceptible to being selected for award. The discussions shall be
for the purpose of clarification to assure full understanding of, and
responsiveness to, the solicitation requirements. In conducting discussions,
agencies shall be cautious to not disclose information derived from competing
offers. Offerors should be accorded fair and equal treatment with respect to
any opportunity for discussion. Revision of lease proposals may only be
permitted after submissions and prior to award for the purpose of obtaining
best and final offers.
(15)
Best and Final Offers: The
agency shall establish a common date and time for the submission of any best
and final offers. Best and final offers shall ordinarily be submitted only
once; however the agency procurement officer may make a written determination
that it is in the State's best interest to conduct additional discussions or
change the State's requirements and require another submission of best and
final offers. Otherwise, no discussion of or changes in the best and final
offers shall be allowed before the award. Offerors shall also be informed that
if they do not submit a notice of withdrawal or another best and final offer,
their immediate previous offer may be construed as their best and final
offer.
(16)
Award:
After proposals have been evaluated, the Agency Procurement Officer shall
prepare an Evaluation Report recommending the award of a Lease Contract to the
offeror whose proposal is determined to be the most advantageous to the State.
The report shall list the names of all potential offerors who submitted a
proposal and shall summarize the proposals of each offeror. The report shall
rank offerors in order of evaluation and shall recommend the selection of an
offer among others considered, as well as any irregularities. The report shall
be submitted along with unexecuted Lease Contract in BRICKS in order for RPM
Division to obtain PPRB approval.
(17)
Notice of Intent to Award:
A Notice of Intent to Award, indicating that award is subject to approval of
PPRB, shall be made to the winning offeror in writing and shall be posted on
the RPM Division website in accordance with the timeline identified in the RLP
or as extended in accordance with Section 300.5(1)Extension of Time for
Acceptance of Lease Proposal.
