North Carolina Administrative Code › Title 09 - GOVERNOR AND LT. GOVERNOR › Chapter 06 - OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY SERVICES › Subchapter B - PROCUREMENT REQUESTS › Section .0300 - PROCUREMENT AUTHORIZATION AND PROCEDURES › Section 06B .0302 - METHODS OF SOURCE SELECTION

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 2, July 15, 2024
Purchases governed by general delegation or statute shall
					 be solicited, and offers evaluated, in accordance with the following best value
					 methods:
(1) The purchasing agency
				  shall use the following steps for best value procurements;
(a) The purchasing agency determines the
				  appropriate best value bidding method through development of one of the
				  solicitations set forth in Sub-item (1)(b) of this Rule;
(b) The following types of solicitations are
				  available from the State CIO or other types as may be approved by the State CIO
				  pursuant to applicable laws and regulations:
(i) Requests for Information (RFI), used for
				  gathering information to prepare a solicitation for offers;
(ii) Invitations for Bid (IFB), used when the
				  best value recommendation for award is based on the lowest priced or highest
				  qualified and technically acceptable selection method;
(iii) Requests for Quotation are used to
				  contract with a single vendor or a limited group of vendors for purchases of
				  specific goods and services or small purchases of goods, or pursuant to a
				  waiver of competition that satisfies Rule .0901 of this Subchapter;
(iv) Requests for Proposal (RFP), used for
				  purchases when the State needs to solicit solutions-based offers, where
				  negotiations with one or more vendors may be needed, or when the best value
				  recommendation for award is based on ranking all offers and will not be based
				  solely on the lowest priced-technically acceptable source;
(v) One-Step solicitation, used when both the
				  technical step one offer and price step two offer are submitted at the same
				  time;
(vi) Two-Step solicitation,
				  used when the technical step one offer and price step two offer are submitted
				  and evaluated separately;
(c) The purchasing agency shall develop,
				  advertise, and publish its solicitation for offers in accordance with the rules
				  of this Subchapter;
(d) The
				  purchasing agency shall hold any scheduled conferences or site visits in
				  accordance with standard solicitation document language established by the
				  State CIO;
(e) The purchasing
				  agency shall receive offers in response to its solicitation and it shall then
				  conduct a public bid opening and prepare a tabulation of all offers received.
				  For solicitations that allow for negotiation after receipt of offers, only the
				  names of offerors shall be disclosed at the public bid opening or on the
				  tabulation of offers received;
(f)
				  The purchasing agency's evaluation committee shall evaluate offers in
				  accordance with the stated solicitation selection method and evaluation
				  criteria. For solicitations that include a best value ranking process, the
				  purchasing agency shall rank offers by using any consistent rating or scoring
				  methodology, which may include adjectival, numerical, or ordinal rankings. The
				  purchasing agency's evaluation shall document relative strengths, deficiencies,
				  weaknesses, and risks supporting its award recommendation. Best-Value
				  evaluation shall include evaluating quality factors such as:
(i) State's total cost of ownership, meaning
				  summation of the State's total cost for acquiring, operating, maintaining, and
				  supporting a product or service over its projected lifetime to include
				  competitive price data; evaluation of the offeror's cost for actual and
				  anticipated components comprising its quotation, as applicable; and value-added
				  conditions or additional services included in the offer;
(ii) Technical merit of the offer including
				  as applicable, consideration for consistency and compatibility of the proposed
				  solution with the State's strategic program direction; maximum facilitation of
				  data exchange or systems integration; effectiveness of business solution and
				  approach to solicitation's specific purpose or objective; delivery and
				  implementation schedules; and guarantees, warranties, and return policies;
				  and
(iii) Probability of the
				  offeror performing the work as stated in the solicitation on time, in a manner
				  that accomplishes the stated intent and business objectives, and that maintains
				  compliance with industry standards including, as applicable, consideration of
				  the offeror's financial stability; program or industry experience; past
				  performance with the State; expertise with similar projects, solutions, or
				  technologies; its proven development methodologies and tools, innovative use of
				  technologies; or key personnel and depth of additional resources, compared to
				  scope and intent of business need stated in the solicitation; etc.;
(g) The purchasing agency may
				  communicate with offerors after receipt of offers and in accordance with
				  instructions, procedures and terms set forth in the solicitation as well as
				  those procedures appropriate to the designated method of source selection. If
				  negotiation is permitted in the solicitation, the purchasing agency may also
				  allow offerors to submit best and final offers subsequent to negotiated changes
				  in the initial offer or previous offer;
(h) The purchasing agency evaluation
				  committee shall determine a final ranking of all offers under consideration
				  using only the criteria set forth in the solicitation. The purchasing agency
				  evaluation committee shall rank all responsive and responsible offerors from
				  most advantageous to least advantageous to the State, and document such in its
				  final award recommendation;
(i)
				  Award must be made to the responsive and responsible offeror whose offer is
				  determined to be the most advantageous and best value to the State, using all
				  evaluation criteria set forth in the solicitation (e.g., if the lowest price or
				  highest qualified technically acceptable method is designated in the
				  solicitation, then award must be made to the responsive and responsible offeror
				  with the lowest price or highest qualified technically accepted
				  method.)