17 AAC 95.040 - Public-private partnerships

(a) The authority may enter into public-private partnerships to provide engineering services, design services, construction services, project financing, operating services, maintenance services, or any combination of those services. A public-private partnership agreement, or set of related agreements, may be awarded under the provisions of 17 AAC 95.020, 17 AAC 95.030, or this section. The solicitation for bids or proposals will state the section under which the authority is proceeding.

(b) The authority may determine that only proposers who are selected for a short list of proposers under the following procedures are eligible for an award of a public-private partnership agreement:

(1) the authority may issue a request for qualifications, soliciting qualification statements from private entities wishing to submit proposals for a public-private partnership agreement; the request for qualifications will state the minimum and may state a maximum number of proposers that will be invited to submit final proposals;

(2) the short list of proposers will be based on an evaluation of the criteria set out in the request for qualifications; the request for qualifications will include the relative weight given to the criteria;

(3) the request for qualifications may request one or more conceptual approaches to fulfill the obligations under the public-private partnership;

(4) an evaluation committee established by the authority shall evaluate qualifications submittals received in response to the request for qualifications;

(5) the evaluation committee shall identify and approve a short list of those entities that are considered most qualified to submit detailed proposals for a proposed project, not to exceed the number designated in the request for qualifications; the short list of selected proposers will be distributed to all proposers and made available to the public;

(6) if the authority fails to achieve at least two qualified proposers, either because only one qualified proposer responds to the request for qualifications or because some or all of the qualified proposers withdraw their proposals, the authority may issue a new request for qualifications, proceed with a sole source procurement under 17 AAC 95.060 with any remaining proposer, or terminate the procurement.

(c) Short-listed proposers selected under (b) of this section will be invited, through a request for proposals, to submit proposals for a public-private partnership agreement on the designated services. The request for proposals will conform to, and follow the procedures under, 17 AAC 95.030, except that

(1) the authority may ask for initial proposals followed by discussions and revised proposals, or may award the public-private partnership agreement without discussions or revised proposals;

(2) the request for proposals may include a request for alternative proposals;

(3) the request for proposals may provide for a payment to each unsuccessful proposer that submits a proposal responsive to the requirements of the request for proposals, or to short-listed proposers, if the authority cancels the procurement; the terms under which a payment will be made will be contained in the request for proposals;

(4) the request for proposals may allow interim submission for authority review, approval, conditional approval, or disapproval of alternative technical concepts and alternative financial concepts; for purposes of this paragraph, a concept is an alternative concept if it would not be considered responsive under the terms of the request for proposals, or if it incorporates an exception to requirements that are set out in the request for proposals; if the authority approves or conditionally approves an alternative concept, the proposer submitting it may incorporate it into its proposal, and the authority will not reject the proposal for unresponsiveness due to the approved or conditionally approved alternative concept; the authority may revise the request for proposals in response to submission of an alternative concept;

(5) technical solutions and design concepts contained in proposals will be considered proprietary information unless a stipulated price is offered and accepted.

(d) The authority may conduct individual or collective meetings with short-listed proposers during the course of the procurement and before proposal submission in order to exchange information, receive and discuss questions and comments, and provide clarifications. If the authority conducts meetings, each short-listed proposer and its representatives shall sign and adhere to an agreement, in a form determined by the authority, to govern the conduct of those meetings and assure confidentiality. If the authority conducts meetings on an individual basis, the authority will provide each short-listed proposer a comparable opportunity to engage in those individual meetings. The authority will share with all short-listed proposers, on a reasonably contemporaneous basis, material non-confidential information and material clarifications that concern the procurement and the services and that are communicated at a meeting with any short-listed proposer. The authority will not disclose any confidential information, concepts, or ideas of another short-listed proposer.

(e) The authority will evaluate technical and price proposals separately, in accordance with the evaluation factors set out in the request for proposals.

(f) The evaluation committee shall submit a recommendation to the board regarding approval of the highest ranked proposal. The board may approve or disapprove the recommendation. After board approval, the authority will notify proposers in writing of the authority's rankings and make the rankings available to the public.

(g) The authority may enter into negotiations with the highest ranked proposer to negotiate any portions, terms, or conditions of its proposal that the authority desires to negotiate, without releasing the proposer from its offer. If a public-private partnership agreement satisfactory to the authority cannot be negotiated with that proposer, or if, in the course of negotiations, it appears that the proposal will not provide the authority with the overall best value, the authority will formally suspend or terminate negotiations with that proposer and may

(1) reject all proposals;

(2) modify the request for proposals and begin again the submission of proposals; or

(3) proceed to the next most highly ranked proposal and attempt to negotiate a public-private agreement with that proposer in accordance with this subsection.

(h) Information the authority makes available to proposers is as a convenience to the proposer and without representation or warranty of any kind, except as may be expressly specified in the request for qualifications or request for proposals. Proposers may not rely upon any oral responses to inquiries.

Notes

17 AAC 95.040

Eff. 9/17/2011, Register 199

Authority:AS 19.75.111

AS 36.30.015