Utah Admin. Code R23-1-712 - Best and Final Offers
Best and Final Offers shall be conducted in accordance with Section 63G-6a-707.5. This administrative rule provides additional requirements and procedures and must be used in conjunction with the Utah Procurement Code.
(1) The best and final offers process is an
optional step in the evaluation phase of the request for proposals process in
which offerors are requested to change their proposals.
(a) An evaluation committee may request best
and final offers when:
(i) no single proposal
addresses all the specifications;
(ii) all or a significant number of the
proposals received are unclear and the evaluation committee requires further
clarification;
(iii) additional
information is needed for the evaluation committee to make a
decision;
(iv) the differences
between proposals in one or more categories are too slight to
distinguish;
(v) all cost proposals
are too high or over the budget; or
(vi) multiple contract awards are necessary
to achieve regional or statewide coverage for a procurement item under a
request for proposals and there are insufficient cost proposals within the
budget to award the number of contracts needed to provide regional or statewide
coverage.
(2)
Only offerors meeting the qualifications, or scores described in the request
for proposals are eligible to respond to best and final offers.
(3) Proposal modifications submitted in
response to a request for best and final offers may only address the specific
issues or sections of the request for proposals described in the request for
best and final offers.
(4) Offerors
may not use the best and final offers process to correct deficiencies in their
proposals not addressed in the request for best and final offers issued by the
division.
(5) When a request for
best and final offers is issued to reduce cost proposals, offerors shall submit
itemized cost proposals clearly indicating the tasks or scope reductions that
can be accomplished to bring costs within the available budget.
(a) The cost information of one offeror may
not be disclosed to competing offerors during the best and final offers process
and further, such cost information shall not be shared with other offerors
until the contract is awarded.
(b)
The division shall ensure that auction tactics are not used in the discussion
process, including discussing and comparing the costs and features of other
proposals.
(6) The best
and final offers process may not be conducted as part of the contract
negotiation process. It may only be conducted during the evaluation phase of
the request for proposals process.
(7) The division may not use the best and
final offers process to allow offerors a second opportunity to respond to the
entire request for proposals.
(8)
If a proposal modification is made orally during the interview or presentation
process, the modification must be confirmed in writing.
(9) A request for best and final offers
issued by the division shall:
(a) comply with
all public notice requirements provided in Section
63G-6a-112;
(b) include a deadline for submission that
allows offerors a reasonable opportunity for the preparation and submission of
their responses; and
(c) show how
proposal modifications in response to a request for best and final offers will
be evaluated.
(10) If an
offeror does not submit a best and final offer, its immediately previous
proposal will be considered its best and final offer.
(11) Unsolicited best and final offers will
not be accepted from offerors.
Notes
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