Md. Code Regs. 14.28.08.08

Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 24, December 2, 2024

Section 14.28.08.08 - Procurement by Competitive Sealed Proposals

A. Request for Proposals.

(1) A request for proposals shall include:

(a) The date, time, and place for submission of proposals;

(b) The proposal requirements, including price proposals;

(c) The evaluation factors and relative importance of each; and

(d) A statement of work or scope of services required by the Authority.

(2) A request for proposals may include other information the Authority reasonably determines is necessary.

(3) The Authority may conduct preproposal conferences, and may require that attendance by offerors be mandatory.

B. Receipt of Proposals.

(1) A proposal, withdrawal, or modification received after the established due date and time, at the place designated for receipt of proposals, is late and may only be considered as provided for bids under Regulation .07E of this chapter.

(2) The Authority may not open proposals publicly. The Authority may not disclose the contents of a proposal to any person other than a person responsible for evaluating or reviewing the proposal before procurement contract award. The Authority may not disclose proprietary information submitted by an offeror, except as required by law.

(3) An offeror shall acknowledge receipt of addenda in its proposal.

C. Proposal Evaluation.

(1) The Authority shall evaluate proposals using the evaluation factors set forth in the request for proposals.

(2) Technical and price proposals shall be evaluated independently of one another.

(3) The Authority may establish a technical evaluation committee to evaluate proposals and make a recommendation of contract award to the Authority. The technical evaluation committee may include members who are not employees of the Authority.

D. Discussions.

(1) The Authority may conduct discussions with qualified offerors. A qualified offeror is an offeror who submits a proposal that is determined by the procurement officer to be reasonably susceptible to being selected for procurement contract award.

(2) Discussions with qualified offerors may be held to:

(a) Ensure full understanding of the Authority's requirements and of the offeror's proposal and ability to perform;

(b) Obtain the best price for the Authority; and

(c) Facilitate arrival at a procurement contract that is most advantageous to the Authority, taking into consideration price and other relevant evaluation factors set forth in the request for proposals.

(3) The Authority shall treat qualified offerors fairly and equally with respect to any opportunity for discussions, negotiations, or clarification of proposals.

E. Best and Final Offers. The procurement officer may permit qualified offerors to revise their initial proposals by submitting best and final offers. The Authority may require more than one series of submissions of best and final offers and discussions. If more than one submission of best and final offers is requested and an offeror does not submit an offer in response, the offeror's immediate previous offer shall be construed as its best and final offer unless the offeror submits a timely notice of withdrawal of that immediate previous offer.

F. Procurement Contract Award. Upon completion of all discussions and negotiations, the procurement officer shall make a determination recommending award of the procurement contract to the responsible offeror whose proposal is determined to be the most advantageous to the Authority. The procurement officer shall promptly notify all offerors of the recommended procurement contract award.

G. Debriefing of Unsuccessful Offerors.

(1) When a procurement contract is to be awarded on some basis other than price alone, an unsuccessful offeror may be debriefed upon the offeror's written request submitted to the procurement officer within 10 days after the offeror has knowledge that the procurement contract is to be awarded to another offeror. Debriefings shall be conducted by a procurement official familiar with the rationale for the selection decision and procurement contract award.

(2) Debriefing shall:

(a) Be limited to discussion of the unsuccessful offeror's proposal and may not include any discussion of a competing offeror's proposal;

(b) Be factual and consistent with the evaluation of the unsuccessful offeror's proposal; and

(c) Provide information on areas in which the unsuccessful offeror's technical proposal was considered weak or deficient.

(3) Debriefing may not include discussion or dissemination of the thoughts, notes, or rankings of individual members of an evaluation committee, but may include a summary of the procurement officer's rationale for the selection decision and recommended procurement contract award.

(4) A summary of the debriefing shall be made a part of the procurement contract file.

Md. Code Regs. 14.28.08.08