Chapter 24 - Requests for Proposals and Competitive Negotiations

24.14.0 Evaluation and scoring of proposals

Evaluation criteria shall not be altered after the opening of proposals with the exception of minor changes and only if the alterations are justified and evidence is presented to ensure that such alterations would not materially benefit or disadvantage any supplier.

During the evaluation phase, suppliers may not initiate any communication with the SPOC, PPT and/or ET members. SPOCs may ONLY initiate discussions with suppliers in order to further assess their responsiveness.

Evaluators may request presentations or discussions with suppliers to clarify material in the proposals, to help determine those fully qualified and best suited. Proposals are then evaluated on the basis of the criteria set forth in the RFP, using the evaluation method previously specified in the RFP. Only proposals meeting the mandatory ("M") requirements will be evaluated. Price is considered, but is not the sole determining factor. Two or more suppliers determined to be fully qualified and best suited are then selected for negotiation. A proposal may be eliminated and not evaluated if the proposal is clearly not within the specifications or plans described and required by the RFP.

During the evaluation phase it may be determined that only one supplier is fully qualified, or that one supplier is clearly more highly qualified than the others under consideration. A written determination shall be prepared and retained in the procurement file to document the meaningful and convincing facts supporting the decision for selecting only one supplier and negotiating with that supplier.

Under no circumstances shall a Supplier's ECOS/Security Assessment be evaluated. The Assessment must not be distributed to the entire Evaluation Team, but only to the SPOC, business owner, and ISO. Assessments are done for the selected finalist Supplier(s) and will receive a VITA approval or disapproval.