Ariz. Admin. Code § 7-2-1031

Current through Register Vol. 30, No. 37, September 13, 2024

Section R7-2-1031 - Bid Evaluation and Award

A. As provided in subsection (C), the contract or contracts shall be awarded to the lowest responsible and responsive bidder or bidders whose bid or bids conform in all material respects to the requirements and evaluation criteria set forth in the invitation for bids. No criteria may be used in bid evaluation that are not set forth in the invitation for bids. The amount of any applicable transaction privilege or use tax of a political subdivision of this state is not a factor in determining the lowest bidder.

B. A product acceptability evaluation shall be conducted solely to determine whether a bidder's product is acceptable as set forth in the invitation for bids and not whether one bidder's product is superior to another bidder's product. Any bidder's offering that does not meet the acceptability requirements shall be rejected as nonresponsive.

C. The school district shall award the contract to the single lowest responsible and responsive bidder for all materials or services, except that the school district may make a multiple award if the invitation for bids included notification that multiple contracts may be awarded, the school district's basis for determining whether to award multiple contracts, and the criteria for selecting vendors for the multiple contracts.

D. Before making a multiple award, the school district shall determine in writing that a multiple award is necessary and is advantageous to the school district and shall establish procedures for the use of the multiple awarded contracts to ensure that purchases are made from the contracts determined by the school district to offer the lowest cost in satisfying the school district's requirements. A multiple award shall be limited to the least number of suppliers the school district determines in writing to be necessary to meet the school district's requirements, and may include the following types of awards:

1. Awards to the lowest responsible and responsive bidder for individual line items, groups of line items, or categories.

2. Awards to the lowest responsible and responsive bidders for similar or identical line items, groups of line items, or categories only if the school district determines in writing that such awards are necessary to obtain the required quantity or delivery, and the awards are limited to the least number of bidders necessary to meet the school district's requirements.

3. An incremental award only if the school district determines in writing that such an award is necessary to obtain the required quantity or delivery. The award shall be made to the lowest responsible and responsive bidder, then the next lowest responsible and responsive bidder or bidders until the total definite quantity required is awarded.

4. A regional award to the lowest responsible and responsive bidder in designated regions or locations only if the school district determines in writing that such an award is necessary to obtain the required quantity or delivery over widely scattered locations or a particular requirement is of a local nature.

E. The procurement file shall contain the basis on which the award or awards are made.

F. The school district shall not modify evaluation criteria after the bid due date and time.

G. A school district may appoint an evaluation committee to assist in the evaluation of bids. If bids are evaluated by an evaluation committee, the evaluation committee shall prepare an evaluation report for the school district. The school district may:

1. Accept the findings of the evaluation committee;

2. Request additional information from the evaluation committee; or

3. Reject the findings of the evaluation committee, in which case the school district shall appoint a new evaluation committee to evaluate the existing bids or cancel the solicitation.

H. The school district may contact a bidder to confirm the school district's understanding of the bid. Such contact shall be prior to award. The school district shall obtain written confirmation from the bidder and shall retain the confirmation in the procurement file.

I. The contract or contracts shall be awarded during the bid acceptance period. If the bid acceptance period expires prior to award of the contract or contracts, the procurement shall be canceled, unless the bid acceptance period is extended in accordance with subsection (J).

J. To extend the bid acceptance period, a school district shall notify all bidders in writing of an extension and request written concurrence from each bidder. To be eligible for a contract award, a bidder shall submit a written concurrence to the extension. The school district shall reject a bid as nonresponsive if written concurrence is not provided as requested.

K. A contract may not be awarded to a bidder submitting a higher quality item than that designated in the invitation for bids unless the bidder is also the lowest bidder as determined under subsection (A). This Section does not permit negotiations with any bidder, except as provided in subsection (L).

L. If all bids for a construction project exceed available monies as certified by the school district, and the lowest responsive bid from a responsible bidder does not exceed such monies by more than five percent, the school district may in situations in which time or economic considerations preclude resolicitation of work of a reduced scope, negotiate an adjustment of the bid price, including changes in the bid requirements, with the lowest responsible and responsive bidder, to bring the bid within the amount of available monies.

M. If there are two or more low responsive bids from responsible bidders that are identical in price and that meet all the requirements and criteria set forth in the invitation for bids, award shall be made by drawing lots in the presence of one or more witnesses.

N. A record showing the basis for determining the successful bidder shall be retained in the procurement file.

O. The school district shall notify all bidders of an award.

P. After a contract is awarded, the school district shall return any bid security provided by unsuccessful bidders.

Q. Upon execution of the contract, if performance and payment bonds were not required, or upon receipt of the specified bonds, if performance and payment bonds were required, the school district shall return any bid security provided by the successful bidder.

R. Within 10 days after a contract is awarded, the school district shall make the procurement file, including all bids, available for public inspection.

1. If the procurement file contains information that is confidential under R7-2-1006, a copy of the applicable documents with the confidential information redacted shall be placed in the procurement file for the purpose of public inspection.

2. The unredacted original copy of the confidential information shall be placed in a sealed envelope or other appropriate container, identified as confidential information, and maintained in the procurement file.

Ariz. Admin. Code § R7-2-1031

Adopted effective December 17, 1987 (Supp. 87-4). Amended effective October 22, 1992 (Supp. 92-4). Amended by exempt rulemaking at 33 A.A.R. 1525, effective 7/1/2014. Amended by final exempt rulemaking at 26 A.A.R. 597, effective 7/1/2020.