Sec. 28-18(1). Request for proposals.
(a) Competitive sealed proposals shall be solicited through a request for proposals. The request for proposals shall include a scope of work and any applicable evaluation criteria. Contractual terms and conditions may be included within the solicitation document or incorporated by reference.
(b) A prequalification process may be conducted prior to the issuance of a request for proposals in order to establish a list of qualified offerors. In the event a prequalification process is used, the contract officer shall only consider proposals that are submitted from prequalified offerors.
Sec. 28-18(2). Public notice. Notice of request for proposal shall be electronically posted and the request for proposal shall be available for public inspection not less than fourteen (14) days prior to the date set forth therein for the opening of bids. A shorter time may be deemed necessary for a particular procurement as determined in writing by the director. The public notice shall state the place, date, and time of bid opening.
Sec. 28-18(3). Late proposals. A proposal is late if it is received at the location designated in the request for proposals after the time and date set for receipt of proposals. Late proposals shall be rejected in accordance with section 28-17(3).
Sec. 28-18(4). Receipt of proposals. Proposals shall not be opened publicly. No proposals shall be handled as to permit disclosure of the contents of any proposal to competing offerors. Proposals shall be open for public inspection after a notice of intent to award is issued, or in the absence of a notice of intent to award, after final execution of the contract, except to the extent that the withholding of information is permitted or required by law. If the offeror designates a portion of its proposal as confidential, it shall isolate and identify in writing the confidential portions in accordance with section 28-5 (confidential information).
Sec. 28-18(5). Withdrawal of proposals. Proposals may be withdrawn by written notice before or after proposal opening and may be permitted where appropriate. All decisions to permit the withdrawal of a proposal after opening shall be supported by a written determination made by the director.
Sec. 28-18(6). Consideration of taxes in competitive sealed proposals. In evaluating the proposals, except for procurement of construction, and for purposes of evaluating price, the director shall include the amount of applicable business privilege tax. The amount of a city's business privilege tax shall not be included in the evaluation except in those instances in which the award is between a Tucson offeror and an Arizona-based, non-Tucson offeror. In this event, the applicable city business privilege tax shall be included in the non-Tucson offeror's price for evaluation purposes.
Sec. 28-18(7). Evaluation of proposals.
(a) Evaluation criteria. The request for proposals shall state the criteria to be used in the evaluation of the proposals and shall include their relative importance. Specific numerical weighting is not required to be published.
(b) Selection committee. The director shall appoint a selection committee to evaluate the proposals and make a recommendation based on the criteria set forth in the request for proposals. No other factors or criteria may be used in the evaluation.
Sec. 28-18(8). Discussion with offerors. Discussions may be conducted with offerors.
Sec. 28-18(9). Negotiations with offerors and revisions to proposals. Negotiations may be conducted with offerors. Offerors shall be accorded fair and equal treatment in conducting negotiations and there shall be no disclosure of any information derived from proposals submitted by competing offerors.
(a) Concurrent negotiations. Negotiations may be conducted concurrently with offerors for the purpose of determining source selection and/or contract award.
(b) Exclusive negotiations. Exclusive negotiations may be conducted with the offeror whose proposal is determined in the source selection process to be most advantageous to the city. Exclusive negotiations may be conducted subsequent to concurrent negotiations or may be conducted without requiring previous concurrent negotiations. Exclusive negotiations shall not constitute a contract award nor shall it confer any property rights to the successful offeror. If exclusive negotiations are conducted and an agreement is not reached, the city may enter into exclusive negotiations with the next highest ranked offeror without the need to repeat the formal solicitation process.
Sec. 28-18(10). Contract award. Contract award shall be made by the director to the responsible offeror whose proposal is determined in writing to be the most advantageous to the city taking into consideration the evaluation criteria set forth in the request for proposals. The contract file shall contain the basis on which the award is made.
(Ord. No. 10404, § 1, 5-15-07; Ord. No. 11296, § 1, 8-5-15)