(A) A procurement estimated to exceed $50,000 will be conducted by P&C through a formal solicitation. This includes all goods and services, as well as discount-from-list contracts or pricing-agreements.
(B) The formal solicitation process will contain specifications, evaluation criteria, and contractual terms and conditions.
(C) Public notice of the initial posting of the solicitation and of all addendums to the solicitation is required.
(D) Changes, additions, or modifications to the contents of a formal solicitation, or the bid or proposal opening date, time, and location may only be made by addendum.
(E) Bids or proposals not received by P&C before the time and date of opening will be rejected. The P&C time clock will govern.
(F) Bids or proposals will be evaluated solely on the solicitation requirements.
(G) To establish a list of qualified bidders, a prequalification process may be conducted prior to the issuance of a solicitation. If a prequalification process is used, only bids submitted by prequalified bidders will be considered for award.
(H) An award may be based upon best value if evaluation criteria are identified in the solicitation.
(I) Bids or proposals may be withdrawn prior to the public opening.
(J) Bids or proposals may be changed prior to the public opening by submission of a written amendment on the bidder's letterhead.
(K) Contract awards of $100,000 or less shall be awarded by the Director of P&C, while contract awards exceeding $100,000 shall be awarded by the County Executive.
(L) The Council shall authorize by law any contract in excess of $20,000 that would obligate the County to appropriate funds in the Operating Budget for more than a single fiscal year.
(M) The following types of formal solicitation may be utilized:
(1) Invitation for bid.
(a) After opening the competitive sealed bids, the award will be made to the responsive and responsible bidder upon the lowest price per item, lowest overall cost, or highest discount. Discounts based on less than net 30 may be considered for award at the discretion of the Director of P&C.
(b) Bids will be opened in public at the same time and a tabulation of the totals made available for public inspection.
(c) Bids may be withdrawn after bid opening if a clerical error is clearly evident or after receipt of evidence of a clerical error if the Director of P&C allows the withdrawal of the bid.
(d) Errors may be corrected under the following circumstances:
1. Errors in the extension of unit prices in multiplication, division, addition, or subtraction in a bid may be corrected by the Director of P&C prior to award. The unit prices prevail and will not be changed.
2. After bid opening, a bidder may ask to correct errors in extension of unit prices, multiplication, division, addition, or subtraction. Unit prices prevail and will not be changed.
3. A voluntary reduction in price by the lowest responsive and responsible bidder may be accepted after bid opening, provided the reduction is not conditioned on, or does not result in, the modification or deletion of any specifications or conditions contained in the invitation for bids.
(2) Request for proposals.
(a) An award will be made based upon best value after a competitive sealed procurement process.
(b) Entities submitting proposals in response to the solicitation will be identified in a list of respondents made available for public inspection. Contents of proposals, including price, will not be made available in any format until the award has been made. Price information for unsuccessful bids will be considered proprietary and not be disclosed to the public.
(c) The following are eligible for award by competitive sealed proposals:
1. Goods, services, and professional services at the discretion of the Director of P&C;
2. Capital improvement projects when the Director of P&C determines that the use of alternative project delivery methods would not provide substantial benefit to the County;
3. Technology and software procurements at the discretion of the Director of P&C; and
4. Job-order-contracting when the Director of P&C determines that it would provide substantial benefit to the County.
(d) Request for proposals will be evaluated by an evaluation team approved by the Director of P&C.
(e) Evaluation will be conducted by the evaluation team following a confidential review and evaluation of each proposal and utilizing the criteria set forth in the solicitation and addenda, which may include oral interview discussions with all of the highest qualified offerors, requests for clarification or proposal revisions, reference checks, and request for best and final offers, etc.
(f) The evaluation team will determine a short list of offerors, after which price submissions of the short-listed entities will be opened and evaluated. Award will be recommended by the Evaluation Team unanimously based on the offer that provides the best value to the County. Any non-unanimous evaluation team results will be determined by the Director of P&C.
(g) The Director of P&C is authorized to negotiate the final price and scope of work with the recommended awardee to obtain the best value for the County and may allow proposal revisions during negotiation.
(h) At the sole discretion of the Director of P&C, a prequalification process may be conducted prior to the issuance of a request for proposals to establish a list of prequalified offerors. In the event a prequalification process is used, the evaluation team will only consider proposals submitted from the pre-qualified offerors.
(3) Qualification based selection for architectural and engineering services.
(a) At the sole discretion of the Director of P&C, a qualification based selection process may be utilized for preliminary and schematic phases, design development phase, contract document phase, bidding phase, construction phase, post-construction phase, commissioning services, or construction observation services.
(b) Upon receipt of an agency's submittal of a comprehensive program for the project which sets forth all of the information necessary to design the proposed improvement and a projected timeline, the P&C will request statements of qualification and letters of interest from prospective offerors.
(c) Upon receipt of the information requested from prospective offerors, each submission will be reviewed by the evaluation team for inclusion on the short list of qualified entities.
(d) Entities included on the short list are invited to respond to a request for proposal and only proposals submitted by entities on the pre-qualified short list will be evaluated for award.
(4) Indefinite delivery quantity:
(a) Indefinite delivery quantity agreements may be utilized at the sole discretion of the Director of P&C for the purpose of obtaining bids or proposals to provide materials and services routinely needed by one or more agencies for different applications, to be provided on an as-needed basis.
(b) Indefinite delivery quantity bids or proposals will be solicited by the appropriate procurement method as determined by P&C. Solicitations will include a list of potential materials and services sought, typical types of projects, and the explanation that the list is a representative sample of materials, services, and projects which may be contracted for. The list will not be considered as a limitation upon the type of projects for which a task order may be executed, nor will it prohibit an agency from requesting that P&C conduct a formal solicitation for similar services for a specific project.
(c) An award may be made to one or more bidders or offerors and a master agreement executed. The master agreement establishes pricing and standard terms and conditions required by the County applicable to future task orders, but does not include a specific scope of work to be performed.
(d) Task orders consistent with the terms of the master agreement may be executed in accordance with the authority set forth in this Article. The task order will define a specific scope of work to be performed and the amount of compensation to be paid determined under the compensation terms of the master agreement and constitute a binding contract between the County and the contractor. The agency may require competition among awarded bidders or offerors when the scope of work is estimated to exceed $50,000 and the task order will be issued to the bidder or offeror providing lowest pricing. If one of several IDQ bidders or offerors possesses particular expertise in a field, is familiar with a specific site or structure, or is better able to complete the work in the required timeframe, a task order may be issued with or without competition among awarded bidders or offerors, or to a bidder or offeror that does not provide the lowest pricing.
(e) The total scope of a project to be performed pursuant to an IDQ Agreement may not be split so that the cost of the task order is under $50,000.
(f) Indefinite delivery quantity agreement solicited by P&C on behalf of one agency may be utilized by any agency.
(N) Construction services:
(1) Alternatives. Solicitations for construction services shall be conducted in accordance with the requirements of § 1-2-26(M)(1) Invitation for bid and may use alternative methodologies including but not limited to design-bid-build, design-build, and job-order contracting at the discretion of the Director of P&C.
(2) Capital improvement projects. If an alternate construction delivery method has not been authorized for a capital improvement project, competitive sealed bids will be secured and the contract awarded in accordance with the requirements.
(Bill No. 22-20, 10-25-2022)