18-4-304. Competitive sealed proposals. (1) When, under rules adopted by the department, the director, the head of a purchasing agency, or a designee of either officer above the level of the procurement officer determines that the use of competitive sealed bidding is either not practicable or not advantageous to the state, a contract may be entered into by competitive sealed proposals. The department may provide by rule that it is either not practicable or not advantageous to the state to procure specified types of supplies and services by competitive sealed bidding.
     (2) Proposals must be solicited through a request for proposals.
     (3) Adequate public notice of the request for proposals must be given in the same manner as provided in 18-4-303(2).
     (4) Proposals must be opened so as to avoid disclosure of contents to competing offerors during the process of negotiation. A register of proposals must be prepared in accordance with rules adopted by the department and must be open for public inspection after contract award.
     (5) The request for proposals must state the relative importance of price and other evaluation factors.
     (6) As provided in the request for proposals and under rules adopted by the department, discussions with responsible offerors who submit apparently responsive proposals may be conducted for the purpose of clarification in order to assure full understanding of and responsiveness to the solicitation requirements. Offerors must be accorded fair and equal treatment with respect to any opportunity for discussion and revision of proposals, and revisions may be permitted, after submissions and prior to award, for the purpose of obtaining best and final offers. In conducting discussions, there may not be disclosure of any information derived from proposals submitted by competing offerors. The department may require the submission of cost or pricing data in connection with an award under this section.
     (7) The award must be made to the responsible offeror whose proposal is determined in writing to be the most advantageous to the state, taking into consideration price, including the preference in 18-1-102, and the evaluation factors set forth in the request for proposals. No other factors or criteria may be used in the evaluation. The contract file must contain the basis on which the award is made.

     History: En. Sec. 15, Ch. 519, L. 1983; amd. Sec. 10, Ch. 130, L. 1995.