§ 54-44.4-10 — Competitive sealed proposals - Exempt records

North Dakota § 54-44.4-10

• Jurisdiction: North Dakota
• Title 54: State Government
• Ch. 54-44.4: State Purchasing Practices

Text

1. A contract for commodities or services may be entered by competitive sealed
proposals when a determination is made that the use of competitive sealed bidding is
either not practicable or not advantageous to the state. The request for proposal must
state the relative importance of price and other factors and subfactors, if any.
2. Proposals must be opened so as to avoid disclosure of contents to competing offerors
during the process of negotiation. All proposals received pursuant to a competitive
sealed proposal process are exempt records under subsection 5 of section 44-04-17.1
until an award is made.
3. Discussions may be conducted with responsible offerors who submit proposals
determined to be reasonably susceptible of being selected for award for the purpose of
clarification to assure full understanding of, and responsiveness to, the solicitation
requirements. Offerors must be accorded fair and equal treatment with respect to any
opportunity for discussion and revision of proposals, and revisions may be permitted
after submissions and before award for the purpose of obtaining best and final offers.
In conducting discussions, there may be no disclosure of any information derived from
proposals submitted by competing offerors.
4. Unless all proposals are rejected, award must be made to the responsible offeror
whose proposal conforms to the solicitation and is determined, in writing, to be the
most advantageous to the state, taking into consideration price and the evaluation
factors set forth in the request for proposals. No other factors or criteria may be used
in the evaluation. The contract file must contain the basis on which the award is made.
Written notice of the award of the contract to the successful offeror must be promptly
given to all offerors.