(a) When allowed. When the Purchasing Agent determines, in accordance with the Purchasing Regulations, that competitive sealed bidding is not practical or not advantageous to the County, a contract may be entered into by competitive sealed proposals.
(b) Notice. Adequate public notice of the request for proposals shall be given in the manner provided in § 8-2-104(c).
(c) Contents of request; evaluation. The request for proposals shall state the relative importance of price and other evaluation factors. Price may not be the sole evaluation factor. Numerical ratings may be used at the discretion of the Purchasing Agent.
(d) Uniform bidding; statement under oath. The Purchasing Agent shall discourage uniform and collusive bidding by every possible means and endeavor to obtain competition on purchases and sales that is as full and open as possible. The Purchasing Agent shall require each bidder to accompany a bid with a statement made under oath that the bidder has not been a party with other bidders to an agreement to bid a fixed or uniform price or to share price bid information.
(e) Opening of proposals; register. Proposals shall be opened so as to avoid disclosure of contents to competing offerors during the process of negotiation. A register of proposals shall be prepared showing the names of offerors who have submitted proposals and shall be open for public inspection.
(f) Negotiation. As provided in the request for proposals, discussions may be conducted with responsible offerors who submit proposals determined by the Purchasing Agent to have a reasonable possibility of award. Discussions may be held for purposes of clarification to ensure full understanding of and responsiveness to the solicitation requirements. Offerors shall be accorded fair and equal treatment with respect to any opportunity for discussion and revisions of proposals, and revisions may be permitted after submissions and before award for the purpose of obtaining best and final offers. In conducting discussions, there shall be no disclosure of any information derived from proposals submitted by competing offerors.
(g) Multi-step method. A multi-step method may be used in the evaluation process with qualifications and technical and price proposals being obtained and evaluated either separately or concurrently.
(h) Demonstration or testing. If the Purchasing Agent determines that use of proposed goods or services is required before technical evaluation of the proposed goods or services, each responsive, responsible offeror shall be provided with an opportunity to provide goods or services for a time period determined by the Purchasing Agent before technical evaluation of the proposals and before opening of cost proposals.
(1985 Code, Art. 10, § 2-105) (Bill No. 59-85; Bill No. 8-03; Bill No. 58-08; Bill No. 8-17; Bill No. 80-18)