Oregon Administrative Rules › Chapter 125 - DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES › Division 247 - PUBLIC PROCUREMENT OF SUPPLIES AND SERVICES › Section 125-247-0550 - Prequalification of Prospective Offerors, Pre-negotiation of Contract Terms and Conditions, and Request for Qualifications (RFQ)

Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 7, July 1, 2024
(1) Prequalification of Prospective Offerors.
			 An Authorized Agency may prequalify prospective Offerors according to ORS
			 279B.120 and
			 279B.125. Despite the
			 prohibition against revocation of prequalification in ORS
			 279B.120(3), an
			 Authorized Agency may determine that a prequalified Offeror is not Responsible
			 before Contract Award.
(2)
			 Pre-negotiation of Contract Terms and Conditions. An Authorized Agency may
			 pre-negotiate some or all Contract terms and conditions including prospective
			 Proposer Contract forms such as license agreements, maintenance and support
			 agreements or similar documents for use in future Procurements. Such
			 pre-negotiation of Contract terms and conditions (including prospective
			 Proposer forms) may be part of the prequalification process of a Proposer in
			 Section (1) or the pre-negotiation may be a separate process and not part of a
			 prequalification process. Unless required as part of the prequalification
			 process, the failure of the Authorized Agency and the prospective Proposer to
			 reach agreement on pre-negotiated Contract terms and conditions does not
			 prohibit the prospective Proposer from responding to Procurements. An
			 Authorized Agency may agree to different pre-negotiated Contract terms and
			 conditions with different prospective Proposers. When an Authorized Agency has
			 pre-negotiated different terms and conditions with Proposers or when permitted,
			 Proposers offer different terms and conditions, an Authorized Agency may
			 consider the terms and conditions in the Proposal evaluation process.
(3) Request for Qualifications (RFQ). For
			 purposes of this Section, an RFQ may be used without the RFQ constituting a
			 Prequalification according to Section (1) of this Rule, if the Authorized
			 Agency establishes the RFQ to determine whether competition exists to perform
			 the needed services or to establish a nonbinding, open list of qualified
			 Contractors in addition to the general public and in order to expand the pool
			 of qualified Contractors, before issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP). If an
			 Authorized Agency establishes a closed, exclusive, or binding list of qualified
			 Contractors, then the Authorized Agency must comply with Section (1) of this
			 Rule. The Authorized Agency is not required to issue an RFQ and may elect to
			 forego using an RFQ before issuing an RFP.
(a) At a minimum, the RFQ must describe the
			 particular specialty desired, the qualifications the Contractor(s) must have in
			 order to be considered, and the evaluation factors and their relative
			 importance. The RFQ may require information including, but not limited to: the
			 Contractor's particular capability to perform the required services; the number
			 of experienced staff available to perform the required services, including
			 specific qualifications and experience of personnel; a list of similar services
			 the Contractor has completed, with references concerning past performance; and
			 any other information deemed necessary by the Authorized Agency to evaluate
			 Contractor qualifications.
(b) A
			 qualifications pre-submission meeting, voluntary or mandatory, may be held for
			 all interested Contractors to discuss the proposed services. The RFQ must
			 include the date, time and place of the meeting(s).
(c) Unless the RFQ establishes that
			 competition does not exist or unless the Solicitation process is canceled or
			 all qualification statements are rejected, all respondents who met the
			 published qualifications must receive a notice, or other materials as
			 appropriate, in addition to the general public, of any required services and
			 have an opportunity to submit a proposal in response to an Authorized Agency's
			 subsequent RFP.
(d) All RFQs must:
(A) Be in Writing;
(B) Be posted on OregonBuys or other
			 Electronic Procurement System approved by the State Chief Procurement
			 Officer;
(C) Provide that the
			 Authorized Agency may, at any time during the Solicitation process, reject any
			 or all Proposals or cancel the Solicitation without liability if it is in the
			 public interest to do so; and
(D)
			 Provide that the Authorized Agency is not responsible for any costs of any
			 proposers incurred while submitting Proposals, and that all Proposers who
			 respond to Solicitations do so solely at their own expense, unless compensation
			 is expressly provided for in the Solicitation Document.
(e) In accordance with ORS
			 200.035, and applicable related
			 Department statewide policy, a State Contracting Agency, as defined in ORS
			 279A.010, must provide Timely
			 Notice, in Writing, to the Governor's Policy Advisor for Economic and Business
			 Equity of each Solicitation and contracting opportunity exceeding $10,000. As
			 used in ORS 200.035 and this Rule, "Timely
			 Notice" means at the time the State Contracting Agency advertises or solicits
			 Bids or Proposals and at the time the State Contracting Agency publicly
			 releases the Contract.