Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
29 <br />(e) Any negotiations shall not alter the contract beyond the <br />scope of the original request for proposals in a manner that <br />deprives the proposers or potential proposers of a fair <br />opportunity to compete for the contract; and would have <br />resulted in the award of the contract to a different person or <br />entity if the alterations had been included in the request for <br />proposals. <br />(f) Proposals submitted shall not be subject to public inspection <br />until a contract is awarded. <br />(3) The Contractor agrees that the RFP method, in accordance with <br />FTA Circular 4220.1 F, under the guidelines of FTA "Best Practices <br />Procurement Manual," should be used for procurements of <br />professional services, such as consultants for planning activities <br />and for transit system operations/management. The Contractor <br />acknowledges that certain restrictions apply under North Carolina <br />law for use of the RFP method and these restrictions and <br />exceptions are discussed in Subsections 20t(1) and 20t(2) of this <br />Agreement. For all architectural, engineering, design, or related <br />services, the Contractor agrees that the qualifications-based <br />competitive proposal process shall be used (see Subsection 20q, <br />this Agreement). <br />(4) When the RFP method is used for procurement of professional <br />services, the Contractor agrees to abide by the following minimum <br />requirements: <br />(a) Normally conducted with more than one source submitting <br />an offer (proposal); <br />(b) Either fixed price or cost reimbursement type contract will <br />be used; <br />(c) Generally used when conditions are not appropriate for use <br />of sealed bids; <br />(d) Requests for proposals will be publicized; <br />(e) All evaluation factors will be identified along with their <br />relative importance; <br />(f) Proposals will be solicited from an adequate number (3 is <br />recommended) of qualified sources; <br />(g) A standard method must be in place for conducting <br />technical evaluations of the proposals received and for <br />selecting awardees; <br />(h) Awards will be made to the responsible firm whose <br />proposal is most advantageous to the Contractor's program <br />with price and other factors considered; and <br />(i) In determining which proposal is most advantageous, the <br />Contractor may award to the proposer whose proposal <br />offers the greatest business value (best value) to the <br />agency. "Best value" is based on determination of which <br />proposal offers the best tradeoff between price and <br />performance, where quality is considered an integral <br />performance factor. <br />u. Award to Other than the Lowest Bidder. In accordance with Federal and State <br />statutes, a third party contract may be awarded to other than the lowest bidder, if the <br />Revised 1/6/10 <br />