(A) The Board of Commissioners establishes by rule and policy when: it is either not practicable or not advantageous to the governmental body to purchase specified types of supplies by competitive sealed bidding; and receiving proposals is the preferred method for purchase of that type of supply, the purchasing agent or purchasing agency is authorized to solicit proposals through a request for proposals pursuant to the provisions of I.C. 5-22-9 et seq.
(B) The request for proposals must include the following:
(1) The factors or criteria that will be used in evaluating the proposals;
(2) A statement concerning the relative importance of price and the other evaluation factors;
(3) A statement concerning whether the proposal must be accompanied by a certified check or other evidence of financial responsibility, which may be imposed in accordance with the rules of the governmental body; and
(4) A statement concerning whether discussions may be conducted with responsible offerors, who submit proposals determined to be reasonably susceptible of being selected for the award.
(C) The purchasing agency must give notice pursuant to the provisions of I.C. 5-3-1 et seq.
(D) All proposals must be opened and read aloud in a public meeting as specified in the request for proposals.
(E) The purchasing agency must keep a register of proposals which is open to public inspection after the contract award. The register of proposals must contain the following:
(1) A copy of the request for proposals;
(2) A list of all persons to whom a copy of the request for proposals were given;
(3) A list of all proposals received which must include all of the following:
(a) The names and addresses of all offerors;
(b) The dollar amount of each offer; and
(c) The name of the successful offeror and the dollar amount of that offeror’s offer.
(4) The basis on which the award was made; and
(5) The entire content of the contract file except for proprietary information included with an offer, such as trade secrets, manufacturing processes, and financial information that was not required to be made available for public inspection by the terms of the request for proposals.
(F) Award shall be made to the responsible offeror whose proposal is determined in writing to be the most advantageous to the governmental body, taking into considerations price and other evaluation factors set forth in the request for proposals.
(G) All request for proposals shall be kept for ten years.
(BC Ord. 2019-0031, passed 9-16-2019)