Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 9, September 27, 2024
A.
Request for Proposals
The provisions of Regulations
19-445.2030B
and 19-445.2040 shall apply to implement the requirements of Section
11-35-1530(2),
Public Notice.
B. Receipt,
Safeguarding, and Disposition of Proposals.
The provisions of Regulation
19-445.2045
shall apply to competitive sealed proposals.
C. Receipt of Proposals.
The provisions of Regulation
19-445.2050(B)
shall apply to competitive sealed proposals. For the purposes of implementing
Section
11-35-1530(3),
Receipt of Proposals, the following requirements shall be followed:
(1) Proposals shall be opened publicly by the
procurement officer or his designee in the presence of one or more witnesses at
the time and place designated in the request for proposals. Proposals and
modifications shall be time-stamped upon receipt and held in a secure place
until the established due date. After the date established for receipt of
proposals, a Register of Proposals shall be prepared which shall include for
all proposals the name of each offeror, the number of modifications received,
if any, and a description sufficient to identify the item offered. The Register
of Proposals shall be certified in writing as true and accurate by both the
person opening the proposals and the witness. The Register of Proposals shall
be open to public inspection only after the issuance of an award or
notification of intent to award, whichever is earlier. Proposals and
modifications shall be shown only to State personnel having a legitimate
interest in them and then only on a "need to know" basis. Contents and the
identity of competing offers shall not be disclosed during the process of
opening by state personnel.
(2) As
provided by the solicitation, offerors must visibly mark all information in
their proposals that they consider to be exempt from public
disclosure.
E. Clarifications and
Minor Informalities in Proposals.
The provisions of Section
11-35-1520(13)
shall apply to competitive sealed proposals.
F. Specified Types of Construction.
Consistent with Section
48-52-670,
which allows the use of competitive sealed proposals, it is generally not
practicable or advantageous to the State to procure guaranteed energy, water,
or wastewater savings contracts by competitive sealed bidding.
G. Procedures for Competitive
Sealed Proposals.
The appropriate Chief Procurement Officer may develop and issue
procedures which shall be followed by all agencies using the competitive sealed
proposal method of acquisition. Unless excused by the State Engineer, the
Office of State Engineer shall oversee (1) the evaluation process for any
procurement of construction if factors other than price are considered in the
evaluation of a proposal, and (2) any discussions with offerors conducted
pursuant to Section
11-35-1530(6)
or subsection I below.
H.
Other Applicable Provisions.
The provisions of the following Regulations shall apply to
competitive sealed proposals:
(1)
Regulation
19-445.2042,
Pre-Bid Conferences,
(2) Regulation
19-445.2060,
Telegraphic and Electronic Bids,
(3) Regulation
19-445.2075,
All or None Qualifications,
(4)
Regulation
19-445.2085,
Correction or Withdrawal of Bids; Cancellation of Awards, and Cancellation of
Awards Prior to Performance.
(5)
Regulation
19-445.2137,
Food Service Contracts.
I. Discussions with Offerors
(1) Classifying Proposals.
For the purpose of conducting discussions under Section
11-35-1530(6)
and item (2) below, proposals shall be initially classified in writing
as:
(a) acceptable (i.e., reasonably
susceptible of being selected for award);
(b) potentially acceptable (i.e., reasonably
susceptible of being made acceptable through discussions); or
(c) unacceptable.
(2) Conduct of Discussions.
If discussions are conducted, the procurement officer shall
exchange information with all offerors who submit proposals classified as
acceptable or potentially acceptable. The content and extent of each exchange
is a matter of the procurement officer's judgment, based on the particular
facts of each acquisition. In conducting discussions, the procurement officer
shall:
(a) Control all
exchanges;
(b) Advise in writing
every offeror of all deficiencies in its proposal, if any, that will result in
rejection as non-responsive;
(c)
Attempt in writing to resolve uncertainties concerning the cost or price,
technical proposal, and other terms and conditions of the proposal, if
any;
(d) Resolve in writing
suspected mistakes, if any, by calling them to the offeror's
attention.
(e) Provide the offeror
a reasonable opportunity to submit any cost or price, technical, or other
revisions to its proposal, but only to the extent such revisions are necessary
to resolve any matter raised by the procurement officer during discussions
under items (2)(b) through (2)(d) above.
(3) Limitations. Offerors shall be accorded
fair and equal treatment with respect to any opportunity for discussions and
revisions of proposals. Ordinarily, discussions are conducted prior to final
ranking. Discussions may not be conducted unless the solicitation alerts
offerors to the possibility of such an exchange, including the possibility of
limited proposal revisions for those proposals reasonably susceptible of being
selected for award.
(4)
Communications authorized by Section
11-35-1530(6)
and items (1) through (3) above may be conducted only by procurement officers
authorized by the appropriate chief procurement officer.
J. Rejection of Individual Proposals.
(1) Proposals need not be unconditionally
accepted without alteration or correction, and to the extent otherwise allowed
by law, the State's stated requirements may be clarified after proposals are
submitted. This flexibility must be considered in determining whether reasons
exist for rejecting all or any part of a proposal. Reasons for rejecting
proposals include but are not limited to:
(a)
the business that submitted the proposal is nonresponsible as determined under
Section
11-35-1810;
(b) the proposal ultimately (that is, after
an opportunity, if any is offered, has passed for altering or clarifying the
proposal) fails to meet the announced requirements of the State in some
material respect; or
(c) the
proposed price is clearly unreasonable.
(2) The reasons for cancellation or rejection
shall be made a part of the procurement file and shall be available for public
inspection.
K.
Negotiations.
(1) Prior to initiating
negotiations under Section
11-35-1530(8),
the using agency must document its negotiation objectives.
(2) The responsible procurement officer must
participate in, control, and document all negotiations.
L. Delay in Posting Notice of Intent to
Award or Award.
