3.1 Contract Solicitations
3.1.1. A person working on a solicitation for the County must not release information concerning the solicitation to any unauthorized person until the solicitation is publicly issued. A person working on a solicitation, however, may obtain information from others for the purpose of determining the contents of the solicitation.
3.1.2. Formal Solicitation of Offers
3.1.2.1 Whenever the County engages in a solicitation process involving an IFB, RFP, or REOI, there must be public notice. The public notice should ordinarily include the solicitation document number, a description of the goods, services, or construction required, the name and telephone number of the person to be contacted for copies or information, and the due date and time for submission of offers. The Director determines how public notice is accomplished which may involve mailing to potential offerors.
3.1.2.2 The period of time from the date of public notice to the date a response is due is normally at least 30 days. Deviations from this normal period may be permitted if authorized by the Director.
3.1.2.3 Public notice concerning the solicitation should ordinarily be made available to a person on the bidder's list and any other persons identified by the Using Department.
3.1.2.4 The Director may grant deviations from these solicitation requirements. In authorizing the deviation, the Director must be satisfied that adequate competition is preserved to the extent possible.
3.1.2.5 Failure to provide a notification or solicitation document to a person, even if the person is named on the bidder's list or designated by the Using Department, does not affect the validity of the solicitation.
3.1.3 Receipt, Custody, and Opening of Offers
3.1.3.1 Receipt
(a) All offers in response to formal solicitations must be timely received at the place designated in the solicitation document.
(b) After receipt and identification of a timely response to a formal solicitation, the response should be immediately time-stamped and delivered as soon as practicable to a custodian designated by the Director.
(c) A late response must be rejected and should be returned immediately to the person.
3.1.3.2 Custody of Offers
(a) The custodian must keep the offers in a safe and secure place, and must deliver the offers at the time and to the place of opening specified in the solicitation document. During the custodianship of the offers, the custodian must maintain exclusive control and custody, and must not permit any person access to, or release any information concerning, these documents unless specifically authorized by the Director.
(b) An offeror may request to withdraw a response to a solicitation at any time prior to the time set for the receipt of the offer for purposes of either resubmittal or complete withdrawal. This request must be received before the deadline for receipt of offers, in writing and directed to the Director, who has discretionary authority to approve the request and direct the custodian to release the appropriate offer to the offeror.
3.1.3.3 Opening of IFB's; Release of Information
(a) Responses to IFB's must be opened on the date and time and at the place indicated in the solicitation documents, unless the Director determines that circumstances require a different date, time or place for opening.
(b) The Director decides when the time set for opening bids has arrived and informs those present of that decision. The Director then: (1) publicly opens all bids received as of that time, (2) at the Director’s option, reads the bids aloud to the persons present, and (3) leaves a copy of the bid document in the bid room for review by interested persons for a reasonable period of time or makes arrangements for the furnishing of copies of these documents to interested persons.
(c) No statement or comment made while opening the bids is binding on the County or has any effect with respect to interpretation of the solicitation documents or responses received. Opening bids is a ministerial function as part of a public process.
3.1.3.4 Opening of RFPs and REOIs; Release of Information
(a) Responses to RFPs and REOIs are not publicly opened. After the date and time responses to these solicitations are due, the offers are opened under the direction of the Director. Thereafter, they are sent to the responsible Using Department for evaluation and ranking. The envelope in which a response to an RFP or REOI was received should be kept with the response by the Using Department until a final award is made and all appeals, if any, are resolved.
(b) Until a proposed award for an RFP is posted, or a shortlist for an REOI is posted, all responses to RFPs and REOIs are confidential information and must not be released to the public.
(c) A request to inspect offers and evaluations is subject to the Maryland Public Information Act. Offers and evaluations of offers are available for public inspection after a proposed award has been posted, in the case of an RFP, or after a shortlist has been posted, in the case of an REOI. Confidential commercial information and other information not subject to disclosure must not be publicly disclosed at any time. The County may require an offeror to designate which information is not subject to disclosure. As a condition of keeping the information confidential, the County may require an offeror to agree to defend and hold the County harmless if the information is not released at the request of the offeror. Information not expressly identified as confidential by the offeror may be released by the County.
3.1.4 Solicitation Cancellation
3.1.4.1 Before Time for Opening
The Director may cancel a solicitation in whole or in part before the opening or due date when it is determined that this action is in the best interest of the County. This decision should be made only after consultation with the affected Using Department.
3.1 4.2 After Time for Opening
The Director may cancel a solicitation in whole or in part after the opening or due date specified for opening when it is determined that this action is in the best interest of the County. The decision to cancel the solicitation may be based upon the following list of factors, among others:
(a) All offers are non-responsive;
(b) All offers are so excessively low or high as to indicate a defective statement of specifications that requires correction and reissuance of the solicitation;
(c) Specification deficiencies are discovered;
(d) None of the offers meet the County's requirements in terms of price or funds available;
(e) Responses received indicate a problem in dissemination or communication of the solicitation (e.g. insufficient number received under the circumstances or inappropriate responses indicating misunderstanding of solicitation language);
(f) Procurement requirements have changed; or
(g) Other circumstances which indicate a failure of the solicitation process to promote full and fair competition. In making this decision to cancel a solicitation, the Director should consult with the affected Using Department.
3.1.4.3 Notice to Offerors
The Director should communicate cancellation of a solicitation by a method determined in the Director's sole discretion to give appropriate notice to offerors of the cancellation in the earliest possible manner. Usually notice of cancellation should be posted in the same manner as posting a proposed awardee. Offerors are not entitled to any compensation in connection with cancellation of a solicitation.
3.1.4.4 Cancellation Final
The decision to cancel a solicitation is final and is not subject to review.
3.2 Contract Awards
3.2.1 Upon receipt of responses to a formal solicitation and the Using Department’s evaluation of the recommendations regarding the offers, the Director may independently review and evaluate the solicitation responses. After consideration of the evaluation and recommendation of the Using Department, the Director may authorize negotiations simultaneously or successively with one or more offerors prior to making a proposed award to a specific offeror. Until a proposed award is posted by the Director, all information concerning the evaluation and recommendation is confidential.
3.2.2 After the Director’s approval of a recommendation of proposed award, the Using Department or the Director conducts appropriate negotiations as provided by these regulations. Upon completion of the negotiations and determination of a proposed contract awardee resulting from a formal solicitation, the Director must post a public notice showing the number of the solicitation and the name of the proposed contract awardee. The notice must be available for inspection by any offeror. The date of each award decision must also be indicated on the public notice. It is the responsibility of offerors to keep informed of the current status of the solicitation process. Public posting of a proposed award constitutes notice to all offerors of the proposed award. The Director may make such other communications with respect to a proposed award given the particular circumstances of the solicitation.
3.2.3 After the posting of a proposed award, the Director initiates the process which leads to the execution of a contract for the solicited services, goods, or construction. After all necessary approvals and clearances have been obtained, the contracting officer may execute the contract with a signature on behalf of the County. The intentional release of the fully executed contract constitutes a contract award.
3.3 Contract Documents
A written contract document is required in connection with all procurements of goods, services, or construction in Montgomery County with the exception of direct purchases, Using Department reimbursable purchases, credit and debit card purchases and emergency procurements.
3.3.1 County Attorney Approval
3.3.1.1 All contracts, with the exception of direct purchases, petty cash purchases, emergency purchases, credit and debit card purchases, small purchases, and delivery orders against existing contracts, must be submitted to the Office of the County Attorney for review and approval. Ordinarily, the contract should be submitted to the Office of the County Attorney after signature recommending it by the Using Department Head and before signature by the prospective contractor and the contracting officer. The Office of the County Attorney may authorize exceptions for certain classes of contracts or give advance approval of specific contracts or classes of contracts that do not require review and approval by the Office of the County Attorney; this authorization must be in writing with a copy forwarded to the Director.
3.3.1.2 The Office of the County Attorney may approve, approve with conditions, or reject any contract submitted. If approved with conditions, all conditions must be satisfied prior to submittal to the contracting officer for signature. Any contract requiring County Attorney approval is voidable at the option of the County at any time, if County Attorney approval has not been obtained.
3.3.2 Signatures
3.3.2.1 All contracts, unless otherwise determined by the Director must contain the signature of the offeror and the signature of the contracting officer. The signature of the head of the Using Department recommending approval of the Contract should also be included.
3.3.2.2 Signatures of offerors and contractors must be in their correct legal form and must not be abbreviated to common usage or trade name form. All signatures must be made by an authorized officer, partner, manager, member, or employee. The signing of an offer or a contract is a representation by the person signing that the person signing is authorized to do so on behalf of the offeror or contractor. Contracts that are not signed in compliance with these requirements are voidable at the option of the County.
3.3.2.3 Prior to the execution of the contract by the contracting officer, sufficient documentation of an encumbrance to cover the appropriate contract amount must be submitted to the contracting officer. Contracts may contain "subject to appropriation" conditions which authorize the contracting officer to execute the contract without encumbrance documentation, if approved by the Office of the County Attorney. The contracting officer must approve any reduction in an encumbrance after a contract is executed.
3.3.2.4 A Notice to Proceed under a contract must not be issued until the contract is awarded.
3.3.2.5 Original contract signatures must be in ink, unless otherwise authorized by the Office of the County Attorney. When volume of signatures or time is a consideration, a facsimile signature may be authorized by the person whose signature is represented by the facsimile. Facsimile signatures may be used only under conditions authorized by the Director.
3.4 Records Retention
3.4.1 Under the Director's supervision and at the Director's direction, contract records must be retained by Departments which have responsibility for their original compilation for such period of time and under such conditions as determined by the Director. The Director must maintain all other contract records.
3.4.2 All contract records must be maintained for a minimum of 5 years after the latest date of completion of a contract or date of final payment whichever is later.
3.4.3 The Director may develop and issue minimum standard formats and procedures for procurement and contract administration records.