New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 17 - TREASURY - GENERAL › Chapter 12 - DIVISION OF PURCHASE AND PROPERTY: PROCUREMENT BUREAU; CONTRACT COMPLIANCE AND AUDIT UNIT; AND DISTRIBUTION SUPPORT SERVICES UNIT › Subchapter 1 - DESCRIPTION OF ORGANIZATION; MEANS OF PROCUREMENT › Section 17:12-1.3 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter,
				  shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates
				  otherwise:
"Advertised procurement" refers to the formal process used by
				  the Division to obtain sealed proposals in response to a Request for
				  Proposal.
"Agreement" refers to documentation that establishes a
				  mutually binding legal relationship and conveys contractual terms, conditions,
				  and/or requirements between two, or among more than two, public entities
				  applicable to intrastate or interstate actions.
"Best and final offer" or "BAFO" means a price timely
				  submitted by a bidder upon invitation by the Division after proposal opening,
				  with or without prior discussion or negotiation.
"Bid security" means a guarantee, in a form acceptable to the
				  Division, that the bidder, if selected, will accept the contract as bid;
				  otherwise, the bidder or, as applicable, its guarantor will be liable for the
				  amount of the loss suffered by the State, which loss may be partially or
				  completely recovered by the State in exercising its rights against the
				  instrument of bid security.
"Bidder" means a vendor who has offered a proposal in
				  response to the Division's solicitation of proposals.
"Business organization" means an individual, partnership,
				  association, joint stock company, trust, corporation, or other legal business
				  entity or successor thereto.
"Business registration" means the formal certification by the
				  Department of the Treasury's Division of Revenue that a business entity, upon
				  its application to the Division of Revenue, has attained and maintained status
				  as a registered business in accordance with the provisions of 52:32-44.
"Bypass" means a contract award made to other than the lowest
				  priced responsive proposal from a responsible bidder. A bypass occurs when the
				  Director determines that the responsive proposal, which is most advantageous to
				  the State, is not the lowest priced responsive proposal.
"Compatible" relates to instances when, in the Director's
				  business judgment, it is advantageous to procure materials, supplies, or
				  services that are, or equipment that is, capable of performing in conjunction
				  with those previously procured, where the use of materials, supplies, services,
				  or equipment at variance with those previously procured may degrade or impair
				  the performance of those previously procured and/or negatively impact upon
				  warranties or licenses of those previously procured.
"Competitive range" means the group of responsive proposals
				  that are among the most highly rated proposals.
"Contract" means a mutually binding legal relationship
				  obligating the contractor to furnish goods and/or services and the purchaser to
				  pay for them, subject to appropriation where the using agency derives its
				  annual budget by means of appropriation from the State Legislature. For
				  publicly advertised contracts, the contract typically consists of the
				  Division's standard terms and conditions, the RFP, the responsive proposal, the
				  notice of intent to award, any subsequent written document memorializing the
				  agreement, any amendments or modifications to any of these documents and any
				  attachments, addenda or other supporting documents, or other writings agreed to
				  by the State and the contractor describing the work to be performed.
"Contract Compliance and Audit Unit" (CCAU) refers to the
				  unit within the Division of Purchase and Property having the responsibility and
				  authority to audit State contract usage to promote compliance with contract
				  provisions and applicable procurement mandates and guidelines. CCAU acts as the
				  initial arbiter of complaints filed by using agencies pursuant to N.J.A.C.
				  17:12-4 and has oversight responsibility for contracts that are subject to
				  waiver of advertising pursuant to 52:34-9 and 10. In addition, CCAU monitors
				  using agencies and contracted vendors to ensure their conformance with State
				  procurement statutes, rules, and contractual terms, conditions, and
				  requirements.
"Contractor" refers to a business entity awarded a contract
				  by the Division.
"Cooperative procurement agreement" refers to a contractual
				  relationship in which the Division, pursuant to the provisions of 52:34-6.2,
				  joins with, or is joined by, another state or states or political divisions
				  thereof or of New Jersey, or with a nationally recognized and accepted
				  cooperative procurement entity in which other states participate, for the
				  acquisition of goods and/or services that have been, or are to be, procured
				  through competitive bidding.
"Cooperative Purchasing Program" refers to the Division's
				  intrastate program that provides procurement-related assistance to local New
				  Jersey governmental entities and boards of education, State and county colleges
				  and other public entities having statutory authority to utilize select State
				  contracts issued by the Division, pursuant to the provisions of 52:25-16.1 et
				  seq.
"Cooperative agreement" refers to a contractual relationship
				  in which the Division, pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S.A. 52:34-6.2, joins
				  with, or is joined by, another state or states or political divisions thereof
				  or political subdivisions of New Jersey, or with a nationally recognized and
				  accepted cooperative procurement entity in which other states participate, for
				  the acquisition of goods and/or services that have been, or are to be, procured
				  through competitive bidding.
"Cooperative purchasing participants" refers, collectively,
				  to interstate cooperative purchasing participants and intrastate cooperative
				  purchasing participants.
"Day" or "business day" means any weekday, excluding
				  Saturdays, Sundays, State legal holidays, and State-mandated furlough
				  days.
"Delegated Purchasing Authority" or "DPA" refers to the
				  Director's assignment of authority to State using agencies to make purchases
				  when the product or service being procured is not available under an existing
				  Division-issued State contract and when the cost does not exceed the
				  statutorily defined formal advertised bidding threshold pursuant to
				  52:34-7.
"Director" means the Director of the Division of Purchase and
				  Property or the Director's designee.
"Distribution and Support Services" (DSS) refers to the unit
				  within the Division that provides warehousing and distribution services to
				  State and other governmental agencies to meet their product requirements and
				  administers the State's surplus property programs, including the computer
				  distribution program.
"Division" means the Division of Purchase and Property and
				  its support and operational units, including the Procurement Bureau, CCAU, and
				  DSS.
"Environmental" refers to those products or services adapted
				  for use in, or required for long-term serviceability to, localized natural or
				  man-made environmental conditions.
"Federal supply schedule contract" refers to a contract
				  established and administered by contracting agencies of the Federal government,
				  including and particularly the General Services Administration, which may, at
				  the discretion of the Division, serve as an alternate price guide for the
				  purchase of goods and services by State using agencies.
"Filed" means received by the Director or her or his Division
				  representative.
"Hearing officer" means the Director's representative from
				  within or outside the Division, but independent of the procurement process,
				  appointed by the Director to review the written record of an advertised
				  procurement, and/or, in the discretion of the Director, to preside over an
				  in-person presentation or informal hearing in response to a vendor's challenge,
				  in accordance with 52:34-10.1 0, and as set forth in
				  17:12-3.2 and 3.3.
"Homeland security" and "domestic preparedness" refer to
				  circumstances that may be cause for immediate procurement action necessary to
				  meet potential or existing life and safety or security concerns as deemed
				  essential by the Governor or other authorized State official and sanctioned as
				  such by the State Treasurer.
"Interstate cooperative purchasing participants" refers to
				  another state or states, or political divisions thereof, that pursuant to its
				  own laws and regulations are permitted to utilize contracts awarded by the
				  Director.
"Intrastate cooperative purchasing participants" refers to
				  political subdivisions, volunteer fire departments and first aid squads, and
				  independent institutions of higher education and school districts pursuant to
				  N.J.S.A. 52:25-16.1 et seq., State and county colleges pursuant to N.J.S.A.
				  18A:64-60 and 18A:64A-25.9, quasi-State agencies and independent authorities
				  pursuant to N.J.S.A. 52:27B-56.1, and other New Jersey public entities having
				  statutory authority to utilize select State contracts issued by the
				  Division.
"Intrastate cooperative purchasing program" refers to the
				  Division's program that provides procurement-related assistance to intrastate
				  cooperative purchasing participants.
"Negotiation component" refers to an RFP provision that
				  establishes the Division's intent to negotiate with bidders pursuant to the
				  provisions of 52:34-12(f), the codified generic procedures set forth at
				  17:12-2.7, and the specified
				  provisions for negotiation set forth in the RFP.
"Notice of intent to award" refers to the Director's
				  notification to all bidders identifying the intended contract awardee(s)
				  following an advertised procurement.
"Performance security" means a guarantee, executed subsequent
				  to award, in a form acceptable to the Division, that the successful bidder will
				  complete the contract as agreed and that the State will be protected from loss
				  in the event the contractor fails to complete the contract as agreed.
"Procurement" refers to the processes used by the Division to
				  establish formal contracts by which using agencies can purchase required goods
				  and services.
"Procurement agreement" refers to a contractual relationship
				  that is contemplated or created under the Division's prerogatives established
				  by 52:34-6.2, concerning cooperative agreements, when the relationship is
				  initiated prior to or during the competitive bidding process.
"Procurement Bureau" refers to the Divisional unit
				  responsible for the preparation, advertisement, and issuance of RFPs, for the
				  tabulation and evaluation of proposals and for recommending award(s) of
				  contract(s) to the Director.
"Professional," relative to contract services and as
				  differentiated from "technical" services, refers to services performed by a
				  person authorized by law to practice a recognized profession and whose practice
				  is regulated by law or the performance of which services requires knowledge of
				  an advanced type in a field of learning acquired by a prolonged formal course
				  of specialized instruction and study as distinguished from general academic
				  instruction or apprenticeship and training. Professional services include those
				  services rendered in the provision of goods or performance of services that are
				  original and creative in character in a recognized field of artistic endeavor,
				  as well as extraordinary, non-specifiable services if, after evaluation and
				  assessment, such services are determined to be such that they cannot reasonably
				  be described by written specifications.
"Protest" means a timely filed written challenge to a
				  specification in an advertised RFP, to a rejection of a proposal declared
				  non-responsive, to a notice of intent to award issued by the Director, or to
				  the cancellation of an RFP after the opening of proposals.
"Publicly available," with respect to any procurement, either
				  in printed or electronic format, means access to the record of any particular
				  procurement or contract for review and/or copying, with the exception of any
				  material deemed by the Director to be proprietary, confidential, or subject to
				  any privilege, or exclusion under OPRA, the common law, and/or U.S. copyright
				  law.
"Purchase" or "purchasing" refers to the acquisition of goods
				  and/or services accomplished through the issuance of a purchase order.
"Purchasing agreement" refers to a contractual relationship
				  that is contemplated or created under the Division's prerogatives established
				  by 52:34-6.2, concerning cooperative agreements, when the relationship is
				  initiated after the competitive bidding has been conducted.
"Quasi-State agency" refers to any agency commission, board,
				  authority, or other such governmental entity, which is established and is
				  allocated to a State department or any bi-state governmental entity of which
				  the State of New Jersey is a member.
"Request for Proposal (RFP)" means all documents, whether
				  attached or incorporated by reference, used for a publicly advertised
				  procurement process that solicits proposals or offers to provide the goods
				  and/or services specified therein.
"Responsible bidder" refers to a bidding entity deemed by the
				  Division to have integrity and to be reliable and capable of performing all
				  contract requirements.
"Responsive proposal" refers to a proposal that is deemed by
				  the Division and/or evaluation committee to have adequately addressed all
				  material provisions of an RFP's terms and conditions, specifications, and other
				  requirements.
"Safety" refers to those products or services required to
				  comply with mandated or accepted State or Federal codes and standards designed
				  to insure against personal harm or injury.
"Sealed proposal" means that the contents of the proposal
				  cannot be opened or viewed before the formal opening of proposals without
				  leaving evidence that the document has been opened or viewed.
"Signed" means a physical or electronic signature evincing a
				  bidder's intent to be bound.
"Standardization" relates to instances when, in the
				  Director's business judgment, it is advantageous to procure materials,
				  supplies, or equipment consistent and compatible in design, fit, style,
				  composition, or manufacture with materials, supplies, or equipment currently in
				  use or to procure services identical or approximate to those previously
				  procured, notwithstanding that materials, supplies, equipment, or services at
				  variance to those previously procured can be used without negatively impacting
				  the performance of those previously procured. Standardization is appropriate in
				  instances where cost savings relating to maintenance, technical support,
				  training, and/or parts inventory can be reasonably anticipated by procuring
				  materials, supplies, equipment, or services identical or approximate to those
				  previously procured.
"Technical," relative to contract services and as
				  differentiated from "professional" services, refers to services that require
				  the application of a special skill or practical knowledge in such areas as
				  information technology, telecommunications, electronics, or other applied
				  sciences.
"Term contract" means a contract which establishes a source
				  or sources of supply of goods and/or services for a specified period of time,
				  usually characterized by an estimated or definite minimum quantity, with the
				  possibility of additional requirements beyond the minimum, all at predetermined
				  unit prices.
"Using agency" refers to a State department or agency, a
				  quasi-State governmental entity, or an intrastate cooperative purchasing
				  participant authorized to purchase products and/or services under a specific
				  contract procured by the Division.
"Vendor performance database" refers to Division records
				  pertaining to contract performance, including formal complaints, CCAU
				  investigation reports, using agency records and/or satisfaction surveys or any
				  other information assembled by CCAU which may be helpful in assessing the past
				  performance of a vendor.
"Waiver of advertising contract" means a contract awarded
				  without public advertisement pursuant to the provisions of 52:34-9 and
				  10.