W. Va. Code R. § 170-6-11

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 50, December 13, 2024

Section 170-6-11 - Purchasing Methods

11.1 Direct Award:

11.1.1. A direct award is a procurement method that provides a contract to a vendor without competitive bidding when circumstances allow. Solicitation and competition are encouraged rather than to process a direct award request; however, a direct award may be made if the following circumstances occur:

11.1.1.a. Written justification documenting that the direct award is in the best interest of the Division.

11.1.1.b. When there is no other source or that no other source would be willing or able to replace the existing source without a detrimental effect on the spending unit.

11.1.1.c. No other vendor expresses an interest in providing the commodity or service in question.

11.1.2. Direct Award of $50,000.00 or less:

11.1.2.a. The process outlined below for a direct award at the delegated level.

11.1.2.b. $0 to $10,000.00: No documentation required but competition is always encouraged.

11.1.2.c. $10,000.01 to $50,000.00: Assistant Director - DAS Purchasing Section must approve or disapprove the transaction. (An email will meet this requirement.)

11.1.2.d. All documentation must be maintained in the purchasing file, including its justification to make the award and any documentation awarding the purchase shall also be maintained in the purchasing file.

11.1.3. Direct Award Exceeding $50,000.00:

11.1.3.a. Direct Award purchases exceeding $50,000.00 shall be in accordance with subsection 10.1 above.

11.2. Emergency Purchases:

11.2.1. This section only applies to emergency purchases not contemplated or completed pursuant to W.Va. Code R. §170-04-01et seq., or for any purchase contemplated or completed pursuant to W.Va. Code 5A-3-3c and W.Va. Code R. §170-05-01et seq.

11.2.2. An emergency purchase can only be made, unless covered by a separate procedural rule of the Division, or pursuant to a separate section of West Virginia Code, upon reasonable and sufficient grounds that some unforeseen or unexpected circumstance has suddenly created a situation requiring that commodities or services be purchased. A record of competitive bids must be maintained in the file if applicable. Emergency purchases are not to be utilized for hardships resulting from neglect, poor planning, or lack of organization by the Division.

11.2.3. An emergency purchase can only be made if the Director, Deputy Director, or Assistant Director - DAS Purchasing Section, or their designee, exercising sound judgment and discretion, concludes in good faith and upon reasonable and sufficient grounds that some unforeseen or unexpected circumstance has suddenly created a situation requiring that commodities or services be immediately purchased. A request for an emergency purchase must be made to the Procurement Section or the Assistant Director - DAS Purchasing Section, which at a minimum shall describe the situation and cause, necessitating the emergency purchase.

11.2.4. Declared State of Emergencies by Governor: In accordance with West Virginia Code § 15-5-6, the governor has the authority to suspend certain laws, rules and/or regulations regarding the acquisition of commodities and services by public organizations in the event the governor declares an emergency. When emergency needs relate directly to the declared state of emergency, these procedures are available and outlined on the Purchasing Division's website at http://www.state.wv.us/admin/purchase/EmergencyProcs2.html.

11.3 Request for Quotation:

11.3.1. Requests for Quotations (RFQ) should be used to acquire most tangible property (i.e. equipment, supplies, etc.) and most services. The RFQ is required for most Division delegated purchases between $30,000.01 and $50,000.00. Exceptions to this requirement may be granted by the Assistant Director - DAS Purchasing Section. Such exceptions may include Direct Award purchases, emergency purchases and any other exceptions that the Assistant Director - DAS Purchasing Section deems in the best interest of the State.

11.3.2. Solicitation of Bids: To achieve the goal of competitive bidding, a minimum of three bids are required, when possible. For Division delegated purchasing (procurements of $50,000 or less), care must be taken to solicit vendors capable of providing the necessary products or services. If wv Oasis is utilized to advertise solicitations, three bids are not necessary.

11.4. Requests for Proposals:

11.4.1. Requests for Proposals (RFPs) are a procurement method that can be utilized when the method of achieving an objective is not well known, making the development of mandatory requirements difficult. Using this method, the lowest price is not the sole determining factor. The RFP method is typically longer than other procurement methods and requires significant agency personnel time and resources to complete.

11.4.2. Limitations:

11.4.2.a. RFPs are limited to procurements with an estimated value of $100,000, unless it's determined by the Assistant Director - DAS Procurement Section to utilize the RFP method for a smaller procurement.

11.4.3. Approval Request:

11.4.3.a. The Division must have authorization from the Director or designee prior to requesting the DAS Purchasing Section to utilize the RFP procurement method. This request should include justification to show that the RFP is in the best interest of the Division.

11.4.3.b. The justification should include a description of the service being sought, an explanation of why the RFQ procurement method is not appropriate, any prior solicitation that has been utilized to procure the service in the past, the expected cost of the project, and any other pertinent information that the Director deems appropriate.

11.4.4. An RFP must contain provisions for a two-part evaluation, the first part being technical aspects of the proposal and the second part being cost to the Division.

11.4.4.a. The two components must then be evaluated based upon the criteria contained in the RFP, scored, and combined to form a total score.

11.4.4.b. The highest scoring vendor will be awarded the contract. No proposal may be evaluated using any criteria other than the criteria specified in the RFP.

11.5. Trade-Ins:

11.5.1. The Division has the ability to trade in used equipment to offset the purchase cost of new equipment. The trade-in process is not delegated to the Purchaser, so any trade-in will be processed through the Division's Procurement Section or the DAS - Purchasing Section regardless of dollar amount.

11.6. Expressions of Interest:

11.6.1. Pursuant to West Virginia Code § 5G-1-1, agencies must utilize the Expression of Interest (EOI) procurement method to solicit architectural and engineering services for projects estimated to exceed $250,000. For purposes of determining the $250,000 threshold, the project cost is calculated by combining the construction cost and associated architectural and engineering fees.

11.6.2. All EOIs exceeding $250,000 must be submitted using the EOI Standard Format for processing as a central procurement. The EOI will then be advertised within wv OASIS and as a Class II legal ad as required by West Virginia Code.

W. Va. Code R. § 170-6-11