The procuring agency must conduct a review of all proposals to
determine their responsiveness to the RFP’s mandatory requirements,
including compliance with the RFP’s Minimum Qualifications and Minimum
Submission Requirements sections. Following this review, the evaluation
committee, comprising representatives selected by the procuring agency, must
independently review the responsive proposals and evaluate each
according to the criteria established in the RFP.
At any time prior to award, the procuring agency must determine
responsibility of the apparent successful proposer and may reject a
proposer found to be not responsible. Refer to
Develop Evaluation Strategy for more information on the evaluation process.
Depending upon the provisions of the RFP, a procuring agency may
make an award using the following contractor selection methods or
combination of methods:
- Solely on the ranking of proposals.
- Discussions leading to best and final offers (revised proposals).
- Serial negotiations, beginning with the highest ranked proposer.
- Competitive simultaneous negotiations.
- Multiple-tiered competition.
- Multistep RFPs.
The procuring agency may conduct site tours, demonstrations,
individual or group discussions and other informational activities with
proposers for the purpose of clarification to ensure full understanding
of, and responsiveness to, the solicitation requirements or to consider
and respond to requests for modifications of the proposal requirements.
The procuring agency must use procedures outlined in the RFP to ensure
proposers are given fair and equal treatment with respect to any
opportunity for negotiation and revision of proposals.
If an agency determines that two or more proposals are identical, it must use the following priority to resolve the tie:
- Award to the proposer who is offering products or services manufactured, produced or that will be performed in Oregon.
- Award through a random drawing if none or all of the tied proposers
are offering products or services manufactured, produced or that will be
performed in Oregon.
Life cycle costing
A procuring agency must consider the use of life cycle costing as an evaluation
factor to quantify the total cost of ownership. This method calculates
the cost to acquire, operate, support and dispose of a product over its
useful life.
The procuring agency may use this method to include any additional
costs that relate to adverse impacts of a product, for example, impacts
to the environment or public health. Using this method, award of a
contract is not based solely on the lowest price, and a low proposal
would include life cycle costing.
If a procuring agency elects to use life cycle costing for evaluation, the RFP must:
- Describe how life cycle costing will be considered and applied in the evaluation process and award decision.
- Provide relevant information for the evaluation of the proposal, for
example, projected product usage, operating environment, and operating
period.
- Provide any information related to testing, demonstrations, or interviews.
- Describe any information that potential proposers must provide in
their proposals, including relevant life cycle costs and supporting
information.
Multi-tiered and multistep proposals
A procuring agency may provide for a multi-tiered or multistep selection process that:
- Permits award to the highest ranked proposer at any tier or step.
- Calls for the establishment of a competitive range.
- Permits either serial or competitive simultaneous discussions or negotiations with one or more proposers.
In multi-tiered and multistep solicitation, a procuring agency may
exercise its discretion to use a variety of means to solicit information
from potential proposers in any sequence or order and at any stage of
the selection process.
At the completion of any stage, the procuring agency may determine
the most advantageous proposal and award a contract, or contracts for
multiple-award solicitations, and conclude the procurement process.
Before posting a notice of intent to award, the procuring agency
may provide proposers the opportunity to protest exclusion from the
competitive range or phases of multi-tiered or multistep sealed
proposals. However, with the posting of the intent to award notice, the
procuring agency must provide an opportunity to protest its intent to
award a contract. Refer to the full section on
Protests for more information on providing for and addressing a protest.
Best and Final Offers
During the evaluation process, the procuring agency may determine that the use of a Best and Final Offer (BAFO) is required.
A request for BAFO may be used during the evaluation process for any of the following reasons:
- To clarify or amend the RFP.
- To request revised cost proposals from the proposers.
- To allow proposers to submit clarifications.
The BAFO is a good tool to ensure proposers are given fair and
equal treatment with respect to revisions of proposals and evaluation.
When the need for a BAFO arises, the BAFO will be provided to all
proposers, unless the procuring agency has eliminated proposers using
competitive range or other evaluation methods described in the RFP. When
issuing a BAFO, the procuring agency must establish a date and time for
the proposers to submit their response. The BAFO must inform proposers
that if they do not submit a BAFO, their immediately previous proposal
will be considered their best and final offer. After best and final
offers are received, the evaluation committee will reevaluate the proposals
as modified by the BAFO response. A procuring agency may determine to
use additional rounds of BAFO as needed.