Ariz. Admin. Code § 7-2-1042

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

Section R7-2-1042 - Request for Proposals

A. Competitive sealed proposals shall be solicited through a request for proposals. A request for proposals shall include the following:

1. Instructions to offerors, including:

a. Instructions and information to offerors concerning proposal submission requirements, including the means for proposal submission such as, hand delivery, U.S. mail, electronic mail, facsimile, or other acceptable means, the proposal due date and time, the address of the office at which proposals or other documents are to be received, the proposal acceptance period, and any other special information or requirements;

b. The manner by which the offeror is required to acknowledge amendments;

c. Notification of whether the school district may award multiple contracts and the school district's basis for determining whether to award multiple contracts. If multiple contracts may be awarded, the request for proposals shall include the criteria the school district will use for selecting vendors for each contract under the multiple award, including as applicable, whether contracts will be awarded by individual line items, groups of line items, or categories, whether contracts will be awarded incrementally, and whether contracts will be awarded by designated regions or locations;

d. The minimum information required in the proposal;

e. The specific requirements for designating trade secrets and other proprietary data as confidential;

f. Any specific responsibility criteria;

g. Whether the offeror is required to submit samples, descriptive literature, and technical data with the proposal;

h. Evaluation factors and the relative importance of price and other evaluation factors. Specific numerical weighting is not required;

i. Procurement of earth-moving, material-handling, road maintenance and construction equipment shall include as evaluation factors the total life cycle cost including residual value of the earth-moving, material-handling, road maintenance and construction equipment and, to the extent practicable, the cost of outright purchase;

j. A statement specifying where documents incorporated by reference may be obtained;

k. A statement that the school district may cancel the solicitation or reject a proposal in whole or in part if deemed advantageous to the school district;

l. Notice that the offeror is required to certify that submission of the proposal did not involve collusion or other anticompetitive practices and that the offeror has taken steps and exercised due diligence to ensure that no violation of A.R.S. § 15-213(O) has occurred;

m. Notice that the offeror is required to declare whether the offeror has been debarred, suspended, or otherwise lawfully prohibited from participating in any public procurement activity, including, but not limited to, being disapproved as a subcontractor of any public procurement unit or other governmental body;

n. Any bid security required;

o. Any cost or pricing data required;

p. The type of contract to be used;

q. A statement that discussions may be conducted with offerors who submit proposals determined to be reasonably susceptible of being awarded a contract;

r. The date, time and location of any pre-proposal conference;

s. The name of the district representative or district representatives;

t. A description of all information that will be recorded and available for public inspection at proposal opening;

u. Notice that all information and proposals submitted by offerors will be made available for public inspection following the award of the contract; and

v. Whether the school district will consider partial proposals for award of a contract.

2. Specifications, including:

a. The purchase description, delivery or performance schedule, and inspection and acceptance requirements, as applicable;

b. If a brand name or equal specification is used, instructions that the use of a brand name is for the purpose of describing the standard of quality, performance, and other characteristics needed to meet the school district's requirements and is not intended to limit or restrict competition. The solicitation shall state that products substantially equivalent to those brands designated shall qualify for consideration; and

c. Any other specification requirements specific to the solicitation.

3. Contract terms and conditions, including:

a. Warranty and bonding or other security requirements, as applicable;

b. The length of the contract and whether the contract will include an option for extension; and

c. Any other contract terms and conditions.

4. When using electronic competitive sealed proposals, the request for proposals shall specify whether electronic submission of proposals is required or optional, the electronic submission requirements, and the electronic signature requirements.

B. A request for proposals shall be issued at least 14 days before the due date and time for receipt of proposals unless a shorter time is determined necessary by the school district. If a shorter time is necessary, the school district shall document the specific reasons in the procurement file.

C. Notice of the request for proposals shall be given by the school district pursuant to R7-2-1022 and R7-2-1024(C).

D. Before submission of initial proposals, amendments to requests for proposals shall be made in accordance with R7-2-1026. After submission of proposals, amendments may be made in accordance with R7-2-1036(D).

E. A copy of the request for proposals shall be made available for public inspection at the school district office.

Ariz. Admin. Code § R7-2-1042

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.