Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 36 - Technology › Part 2 - Information Systems Services › Chapter 10 - Procurement Policies › Rule 36-2-10-210.5 - 019-050 Proposal Confidentiality Procedure

Current through June 25, 2024
RFP and Proposal Confidentiality Procedure
The Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983, Mississippi Code
				  Section 25-61 states:
(1) Records
				furnished to public bodies by third parties which contain trade secret or
				confidential commercial or financial information shall not be subject to
				inspection, examination, copying or reproduction under this chapter until
				notice to said third parties has been given. ITS treats all vendor proposals
				submitted in response to Request for Proposals (RFPs) as confidential and only
				discloses proposal information in accordance with the ITS Public Records
				Procedures ( Section 019-010 of the ITS Procurement Handbook). The utmost care
				must be taken by all parties involved in the evaluation of proposals and
				subsequent project implementation activities to maintain that confidentiality.
In addition, the integrity of the procurement process
				  requires that ITS maintain confidentiality regarding the content of an RFP at
				  all times prior to the RFP's official release. This confidentiality is to
				  ensure no vendor has an unfair advantage due to having advance knowledge of
				  specific RFP content and requirements.
The following procedures should be followed to protect the
				  integrity of the procurement process and to secure the resulting vendor
				  proposals throughout the lifecycle of the information technology procurement
				  project.
During RFP Development:
Participants in the RFP development process are bound by
				  public procurement policy to maintain confidentiality of the specific content
				  and requirements of the RFP at all times prior to the RFP's official
				  publication on the ITS website ("RFP Release"). In many cases, the
				  understanding and verbal commitment of the participants afford adequate
				  protection for the integrity of the RFP and procurement process. The ITS
				  Technology Consultant (TC) serving as Project Manager should determine whether
				  a specific RFP requires the execution of formal, written RFP Confidentiality
				  Agreements. Factors that would indicate a written RFP Confidentiality Agreement
				  is needed include:
(1) multiple
				entities involved in the development and review of the RFP (e.g. oversight
				committees and commissions, interagency procurements, participation of multiple
				functional areas within a single agency);
(2) highly competitive or litigious vendor
				market;
(3) RFP development process
				spanning multiple months; and/or
(4) high-dollar, complex projects. If it is
				determined that RFP Confidentiality Agreements are required, the agreements
				should be executed by everyone who has access to the RFP document before it is
				publically released, including procurement project team members at ITS and the
				customer agency, customer executives, and the ITS Board, if applicable. The
				executed confidentiality agreements must be maintained in the ITS project
				file.
Prior to Proposal Due Date
:
The ITS TC serving as Project Manager and the Customer
				  Agency contact on the project should determine the composition of the
				  evaluation team. ITS customers may utilize the services of third party
				  contractors for proposal evaluation, quality assurance of vendor deliverables
				  and/or implementation project management. These contractors must be subject to
				  the same confidentiality requirements as the state team members. Generally, all
				  members of the team evaluate the vendor's entire proposal. In some instances,
				  team members may only evaluate specific portions of a vendor's proposal where
				  they have expertise. In either case, all team members should execute an
				  Evaluation Confidentiality Agreement
prior
to receiving a copy of
				  proposals. The executed confidentiality agreements must be maintained in the
				  ITS project file. The TC should stress the importance of maintaining proposal
				  confidentiality in initial meetings with the evaluation team.
Proposal Due Date
:
Vendors and other parties that have not executed
				  confidentiality agreements relative to this procurement may attend the proposal
				  opening. The TC and/or proposal opening witness must ensure that the opened
				  proposals are not left unattended at any time. The TC should secure a master
				  copy of each proposal to eventually archive with the project file. The TC
				  should distribute the remaining copies of the proposals to only those members
				  of the evaluation team who have executed the confidentiality agreement.
Proposal Evaluation:
The TC should instruct the team members to take all
				  reasonable precautions to prevent unauthorized access to vendor proposals.
				  Additionally, the team members should be reminded not to discuss proposal
				  content with anyone other than evaluation team members. Team members operating
				  in a cubicle environment should utilize enclosed cabinets, boxes or some other
				  means to avoid leaving proposals exposed to passers-by. As most office
				  environments now share printers, caution must be taken in printing any proposal
				  comparisons or summaries that contain technical and/or financial data about the
				  proposals so that the printouts are not viewed by unauthorized individuals.
				  During the evaluation period, the team may request clarifications from the
				  vendor on specific areas of his proposal. The clarifications submitted by the
				  vendor must be held to the same level of confidentiality as the original
				  proposal. If during the evaluation, it is determined that additional people
				  need to evaluate the proposals in whole or in part, the TC must require them to
				  execute a confidentiality agreement and instruct them on precautionary measures
				  of safeguarding the proposals.
Post Evaluation
:
When the evaluation is complete, the TC must collect all
				  copies of the losing vendors' proposals. The TC and the customer agency contact
				  must determine the number of winning vendor proposals that will be required by
				  the customer for use in project implementation. Typically, one copy is required
				  for contract administration. Frequently additional copies are needed for the
				  Project Manager and Quality Assurance provider. The TC must be certain that a
				  Confidentiality Agreement for Awarded Vendor Proposal has been executed by the
				  Customer Agency Executive Director or Information Systems Officer before
				  releasing copies of the winning proposals. The TC will secure one copy of each
				  proposal for the ITS permanent project file and distribute the requested copies
				  of the winning proposal to the customer agency. After expiration of the period
				  in which a protest of award may be filed, all remaining copies of the winning
				  and losing proposals must be destroyed. All copies must be shredded or
				  otherwise destroyed by the TC or the ITS/ISS Administrative Team.
Damage Control:
If at any point during the evaluation or implementation
				  process it is known that the contents of a proposal have been exposed to a
				  third party, the TC should first ascertain the extent of the exposure. If
				  exposure was to an internal party to the project, the TC should immediately
				  have them execute a Confidentiality Agreement and instruct them on proposal
				  confidentiality. If exposure was to an outside party, the TC should notify ITS
				  ISS Division management, who will provide appropriate notification to the
				  affected Vendor.
25-61-1, et
				  seq