(a) Methods of source selection. Unless otherwise authorized by law, all City procurements shall be made by one of the methods authorized by these Rules.
(b) Preference for competitive sealed bidding. Except as otherwise provided in these Rules, contracts shall be awarded by competitive sealed bidding. In the case of construction, where appropriate in the judgment of the ACCO, and in accordance with these Rules, competitive sealed bidding from prequalified vendors or any other appropriate procurement method may be used.
(c) Preference for Competitive Sealed Proposals in Certain Contracts. Procurement by competitive sealed proposals, including, where applicable, through HHS Accelerator, is the preferred method for awarding contracts for non-commodity data processing equipment and for information technology, non-commodity data processing, architectural, engineering, client, legal, accounting, financial, training, educational, cultural, medical, managed care, employee health benefits, scientific management, research, performing arts, and systems consultation services, and/or other similar services. A "Special Case" determination is not required for such procurements.
(d) "Special Case". Agencies may elect to use one of the methods of source selection listed herein, after making the determination that it is not practicable or not advantageous to the City to use competitive sealed bidding as required by this section.
(1) Methods of source selection for which "Special Case" determination is required: A "Special Case" determination is required for each case in which one of the following methods of source selection is used:
(i) Competitive sealed bidding from prequalified vendors, except as provided in 9 RCNY § 3-10(a);
(ii) Competitive sealed bidding where the award will be made to the bidder whose bid represents the best value to the City;
(iii) Competitive sealed proposals (including multi-step process);
(iv) Competitive sealed proposals from prequalified vendors;
(v) Negotiated acquisition;
(vi) Sole source procurement;
(vii) Demonstration project for innovative products, approaches, or technologies;
(viii) Innovative procurement method; or
(ix) Government-to-government purchase.
(2) "Special Case" circumstances. A special case is a circumstance recognized by these Rules in which it is not practicable or not advantageous to the City to use competitive sealed bidding for one of the following reasons:
(i) specifications cannot be made sufficiently definite and certain to permit selection based on bid price or evaluated bid price alone;
(ii) judgment is required in evaluating competing proposals, and it is in the best interest of the City to require a balancing of price, quality, and other factors;
(iii) it is in the best interest of the City for goods or standard services to be awarded on the basis of best value to the City by optimizing quality, cost, and efficiency;
(iv) there is only one available source, as set forth in these Rules;
(v) testing, experimentation, or evaluation is required to determine the feasibility and application of an innovative product, approach, or technology not currently used by the City;
(vi) the need for advance screening of qualifications is paramount and prequalification is appropriate for one of the reasons set forth in these Rules;
(vii) circumstances justifying the use of negotiated acquisition as set forth in these Rules; or
(viii) to test and evaluate the feasibility and application of innovative procurement methods not currently used by the City or provided for in these Rules.
(3) Source Selection in a Special Case. Upon determining that there is a special case, the Contracting Officer shall select the most competitive alternate method of source selection among those listed in 9 RCNY § 3-01 above which is practicable and advantageous to the City.
(4) Special case determination. The determination that there is a special case, and the reasons that the method of source selection is the most competitive that is appropriate under the circumstances, shall be made in writing in advance of issuing solicitations, as part of any presolicitation review required by these Rules, and shall be approved by the ACCO. Procurements by negotiated acquisition shall require the written approval of the CCPO prior to initiating negotiations.