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to the foregoing, and consulting or other services for design or redesign of information technology <br />supporting business processes. The Contractor will comply with the following minimum requirements <br />[N.C.G.S. 143-129.8]: <br />(a) Notice of the request for proposals shall be given in accordance with <br />N.C.G.S. 143-129(b). <br />(b) Contracts shall be awarded to the person or entity that submits the best <br />overall proposal as determined by the awarding authority. Factors to be <br />considered in awarding contracts shall be identified in the request for <br />proposals. <br />(c) The Contractor may use procurement methods set forth in <br />N.C.G.S. 143-135.9 in developing and evaluating requests for proposals. <br />(d) The Contractor may negotiate with any proposer in order to obtain a final <br />contract that best meets the needs of the Contractor. <br />(e) Any negotiations shall not alter the contract beyond the scope of <br />the original request for proposals in a manner that deprives the <br />proposers or potential proposers of a fair opportunity to compete for the <br />contract; and would have resulted in the award of the contract to a <br />different person or entity if the alterations had been included in the <br />request for proposals. <br />(f) Proposals submitted shall not be subject to public inspection until <br />a contract is awarded. <br />(3) The Contractor agrees that the RFP method, in accordance with FTA Circular <br />4220.1 F, under the guidelines of FTA "Best Practices Procurement Manual," should be used for <br />procurements of professional services, such as consultants for planning activities and for transit system <br />operations/management. The Contractor acknowledges that certain restrictions apply under North <br />Carolina law for use of the RFP method and these restrictions and exceptions are discussed in <br />Subsections 14t(1) and 14t(2) of this Agreement. For all architectural, engineering, design, or related <br />services, the Contractor agrees that the qualifications-based competitive proposal process shall be <br />used (see Subsection 14q, this Agreement). <br />(4) When the RFP method is used for procurement of professional services, the <br />Contractor agrees to abide by the following minimum requirements: <br />(a) Normally conducted with more than one source submitting an <br />offer (proposal); <br />(b) Either fixed price or cost reimbursement type contract will be <br />used; <br />(c) Generally used when conditions are not appropriate for use of <br />sealed bids; <br />(d) Requests for proposals will be publicized; <br />(e) All evaluation factors will be identified along with their relative <br />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 technical <br />evaluations of the proposals received and for selecting <br />awardees; <br />(h) Awards will be made to the responsible firm whose .proposal is <br />most advantageous to the Contractor's program with price and <br />other factors considered; and <br />(i) In determining which proposal is most advantageous, the <br />Contractor may award to the proposer whose proposal offers the <br />greatest business value (best value) to the agency. "Best value" <br />is based on determination of which proposal offers the best <br />tradeoff between price and performance, where quality is <br />considered an integral performance factor. <br />Updated 9/17/10 Page 18 of 34 <br />