Oklahoma Administrative Code › Title 260 - Office of Management and Enterprise Services › Chapter 40 - Employee Benefits Department › Subchapter 37 - Competitive Bidding Criteria and Procedures for Contracts Awarded for Flexible Benefits Plans › Section 260:40-37-8 - Award of contract

Current through Vol. 41, No. 20, July 1, 2024
(a) Contracts for
				health plans provided by qualified Bidder(s) may be awarded based on best and
				final offer BFO through competitive negotiation. In the sole discretion of the
				EBD, a BFO process shall be conducted with qualified Bidders if it is
				considered by the EBD to be in the best interest of the State. In the event the
				EBD considers a BFO process to be in the best interest of the State, all
				qualified Bidders meeting the minimum requirements of the RFP shall be afforded
				an opportunity to negotiate a BFO with the EBD. The EBD shall issue a written
				request to all qualified Bidders for a BFO. Only qualified Bidders who satisfy
				the minimum bid requirements specified in the RFP shall be allowed to
				participate in any BFO negotiation process. The EBD retains the right to accept
				or reject qualified Bidder(s) BFO. The EBD shall retain as confidential
				information contained in the initial proposals submitted by qualified Bidder(s)
				as well as any subsequent bid offers made by qualified Bidder(s) prior to final
				contract award as part of the BFO negotiation process. The BFO negotiation
				process shall allow for modification and alteration of Bidder(s) proposal
				content and Bidder(s) proposal price after proposals are submitted and during
				the evaluation process. Upon request for a public bid opening, only the name(s)
				of the qualified Bidder(s) shall be revealed; neither price nor proposal
				content shall be revealed and made public until after the BFO process is
				complete and notice of intent to award is announced by the EBD. Only the final,
				agreed-upon price and final, agreed-upon proposal content shall be made public
				after the BFO process is complete and notice of intent to award is announced by
				the EBD. Information clearly designated in the RFP as proprietary shall be held
				confidential pursuant to the Employees Benefits Act, 74 Okl.St.Ann. § 1365
				A.11. After an initial proposal is received and opened by the EBD following the
				bid closing date and time, the initial proposal offered by qualified Bidder(s)
				may be discussed for clarification and/or modification if the EBD deems it
				advantageous to do so. In this context, "discussion" shall mean clarification,
				modification, and negotiation, or any of these. Discussion(s) with a qualified
				Bidder(s) during negotiation and/or clarification shall be conducted
				individually and privately with qualified Bidder(s) and may be tape recorded by
				the EBD. The EBD shall hold all tape recordings, transcripts and notes of
				discussion(s) confidential. Changes shall not be allowed in qualified Bidder(s)
				proposal or price after BFOs are received, unless the EBD determines, in its
				sole discretion, that re-submission would be in the best interest of the State.
				The specific criteria of the BFO shall be specified in the RFP issued by the
				EBD.
(b) All proposals shall be
				forwarded to the Contracts Administrator upon completion of the evaluation. The
				Contracts Administrator shall review the information to determine compliance
				with the RFP requirements and compliance with all EBD rules, policies and
				procedures. The EBD shall be the sole judge in reviewing proposals and awarding
				contracts.
(c) The EBD shall
				identify and apply criteria within the RFP and the proposals for final
				selection and award of contracts. The evaluation process may allow for the
				selection of less than all of the responsive or qualifying proposals, as
				allowed by law and as determined to be in the best interest of the
				State.
(d) The Contracts
				Administrator has the right to waive minor deficiencies or informalities in a
				proposal provided that the best interest of the State would be served without
				prejudice to the rights of the other Bidders.
(e) The EBD reserves the right to bid and
				award contracts on an all or none basis, by item or groups of items, whichever
				is in the best interest of the State.
(f) All awards shall be made under the terms
				and conditions as outlined in OAC
				260:40-37-9
				and any additional terms and conditions as described in the RFP.
(g) All ethics rules and laws related to
				conflicts of interest and doing business with public officials apply to any
				contract with the EBD.