Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 36 - Technology › Part 2 - Information Systems Services › Chapter 10 - Procurement Policies › Rule 36-2-10-210.3 - 019-020 ITS Protest Policy and Procedures

Current through June 25, 2024
Rule 210.3: 019-020 ITS Protest Policy and Procedures
A.
Purpose of Policy
-The
				policies and procedures set forth herein and issued by the Department of
				Information Technology Services (hereinafter referred to as "ITS"), establish
				the guidelines relating to the filing, hearing, decision and appeal of protests
				by any actual or prospective participant in the procurement process who is
				aggrieved in connection with the solicitation or award of a contract.
B.
Definitions
-When
				used in reference to this policy:
1.
				"Attorney General" means the individual assigned by the Attorney General of the
				State of Mississippi to provide legal assistance to ITS.
2. "Award of Contract" means
a) approval of the lowest and best proposal
				by the ITS Executive Director via
i) written
				notification to proposers on ITS letterhead or
ii) published notification of intent to award
				or
iii) the execution of a CP-1 for
				the project, whichever of (i), (ii) or (iii) occurs first, OR
b) the ITS Board's
				approval of same during an open session of the Board.
c) ITS statute specifies whether (a) or (b)
				is applicable for a given project, depending on the total lifecycle cost of the
				contract.
3. "Customer"
				means the procuring state agency, institution, or governmental entity.
4. "Disclosure of Information"
				means the inadvertent or intentional divulgement of information in a vendor's
				proposal that is clearly marked "confidential" to any individual or group
				outside the proposal evaluation team, comprised of ITS and Customer staff who
				participate directly or indirectly in the assessment and scoring of the
				proposals.
5. " General RFP" means
				a Request for Proposal issued by ITS to be used in satisfying routine recurring
				requests for acquisitions of information technology hardware, software, or
				services. Each proposal received in response to a General RFP is subject to
				technical and financial evaluation on a project by project basis, and awards
				may be made multiple times from each proposal. For procurements using a General
				RFP with multiple configuration alternatives, a Letter of Configuration is sent
				to suppliers with valid proposals to obtain the best system configuration and
				pricing.
6. "Interested Party"
				means any party who has documented in writing to the Executive Director of ITS
				that he/she has a sufficient personal interest in the subject matter of the
				protest. If the contract has been awarded, as defined herein, the awarded
				vendor automatically becomes an Interested Party without having to provide this
				written documentation.
7. " ITS
				Board" means the membership of the ITS Board as specified in Section
				25-53-7
				of the Mississippi Code of 1972.
8. " Letter of Configuration" or "LOC" means
				a request to suppliers to provide a cost proposal for a specific configuration
				of equipment, software, and/or services required by a Customer for a particular
				project. A Letter of Configuration is sent to all suppliers who have a current
				valid proposal for the relevant General RFP and who have proposed products
				and/or services that most closely match the requirements for the specific
				project.
9. "Official Release of
				the RFP" means the date the RFP was posted on the ITS website, "
http://www.its.ms.gov
,"or the date
				the most recent clarification to the RFP was posted on the ITS website,
				whichever date is later.
10. "
				Post-Procurement Review" means a business meeting conducted by ITS staff at the
				request of any participant in the procurement process to exchange information
				on the procurement process and on the evaluation and scoring of the proposal
				submitted by the participant requesting the review.
11. "Proposal Solicitation" means the process
				of advertising/requesting and receiving vendors' proposals submitted in
				response to an RFP or Letter of Configuration.
12. "Protestor" means any actual or
				prospective participant in the procurement process who is aggrieved in
				connection with the technology procurement and who files a protest.
13. " Request for Proposal" or "RFP" means a
				formal invitation from the State, advertised according to state statute, asking
				suppliers to submit an offer as a solution to a problem or need that the State
				has identified.
14. "State" means
				ITS and/or the procuring state agency, institution, or governmental entity.
15. "Working Days" means Monday
				through Friday but excludes State-recognized holidays mandated by Mississippi
				Code Annotated, Section
				3-3-7(1972),
				other holidays identified in holiday proclamations published or distributed by
				the Mississippi Secretary of State, and any other day the offices of the state
				agencies are officially closed for business.