N.J. Admin. Code § 5:34-10.5

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 23, December 2, 2024

Section 5:34-10.5 - Responsibilities of technical review committee

(a) When the design and construction of a project will be undertaken pursuant to this subchapter, the resolution authorizing the solicitation of a design-build contract shall designate a technical review committee to evaluate statements of qualifications and proposals. The purchasing agent, or the individual appointed if either a contracting unit does not have a designated purchasing official certified as a qualified purchasing agent or the purchasing agent is unable to serve on the committee, shall administer the selection process and serve as selection coordinator for the technical review committee. The contracting unit shall have the discretion to add additional members to the technical review committee. The contracting unit's attorney may advise the technical review committee.

(b) Each member of the technical review committee shall be responsible for evaluating and scoring the statements of qualifications and proposals submitted by bidders in response to an RFQ or RFP, either separately or together.

(c) The technical review committee may use such advisors as it deems necessary to give opinions on evaluating proposals. The names of such advisors shall be included in the report submitted to the governing body. If a municipality is without a designated purchasing official certified as a qualified purchasing agent and appoints an individual other than their chief financial officer to serve on the technical review committee, the chief financial officer shall serve as an advisor to the committee, unless a conflict of interest pursuant to (f) or (g) below prevents the chief financial officer from serving in that capacity.

(d) Once the statements of qualifications are received and the identity of the bidders is ascertained, the members of the technical evaluation committee will be given a list of all bidders.

(e) Before reviewing and evaluating statements of qualifications and proposals, each committee member, and advisor thereof, shall certify that they have no conflict of interest with respect to any of the bidders to be evaluated, any of the key team members, named subcontractors or subconsultants to the bidders, any subcontractors and subconsultants from which the bidder, at the time of the proposal, expects to consider selecting once anticipated quantities and design elements of the project are known, or any of the principals, subsidiaries, or parent companies of such bidders.

(f) A committee member or advisor shall be deemed to have a conflict of interest if their review and evaluation of statements of qualifications and statements of proposal would violate the Local Government Ethics Law, N.J.S.A. 40A:9-22.1 et seq., or the School Ethics Act, N.J.S.A. 18A:12-21 et seq., as applicable. Any person with a conflict of interest related to the design-build project solicitation shall not participate in the evaluation process or advise technical review committee members.

(g) Notwithstanding the definition of technical review committee, should any of the technical review committee members indicate that a conflict of interest exists once the identity of the bidders is revealed, that member shall not serve on the committee and an appropriate official with sufficient knowledge and expertise to review and evaluate statements of qualifications and statements of proposal shall be appointed instead. If a technical review committee member is discovered to have a conflict of interest, the governing body shall remove the member from the committee.

N.J. Admin. Code § 5:34-10.5

Adopted by 54 N.J.R. 1307(a), effective 5/27/2022

Adopted by 54 N.J.R. 2374(a), effective 12/19/2022