Whenever it is determined by the Superintendent or his or her designee in writing that the use of competitive sealed bidding is not practicable and advantageous, and except as provided in §§ 3706 and 3707, a contract may be awarded by competitive negotiation.
Contracts may be competitively negotiated when it is determined in writing that the bid prices received by competitive sealed bidding either are unreasonable as to all or part of the requirements, or were not independently reached in open competition, and for which the following apply:
Adequate public notice of the Request for Proposals shall be given in the same manner as provided for Invitation for Bids.
The Request for Proposals shall indicate the relative importance of price and other evaluation factors.
The award shall be to the responsible offeror whose proposal is determined in writing to be the most advantageous to the school system, taking into consideration price and the evaluation factors set forth in the Request for Proposals.
Written or oral discussions shall be conducted with all responsive offerors who submit proposals determined in writing to be reasonably susceptible of being selected for award. These discussions shall not disclose any information derived from proposals submitted by competing offerors.
D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 5, r. 5-E3704