Formal Request for Proposals and Competitive Negotiations

When an RFP will be issued, the first action should be to establish the evaluation committee to verify that the scope information represents the work to be done and to validate that the evaluation criteria is appropriate and represents the accurate weighting for each criterion. 

When Procurement issues the RFP documents, the following is the process that will be followed to ensure the best possible outcomes.

1. A purchase requisition should be prepared by the department and include the following.  

• The scope of work for the project. This should include the following elements, as a minimum and should be submitted in EAS as a Word document:
  • Background of the requirement;
  • Objectives of the RFP;
  • The expected schedule; and
  • Expected deliverables.
• The recommended evaluation criteria for the RFP, names and location of the evaluation committee and a list of prospective offerors to be contacted.

2. Procurement will prepare a draft RFP and submit it to the school/department for review. After all changes are made to the draft, it will be released to prospective offerors.
3. Procurement will receive and secure all proposals until the date and time announced for the closing. At that time, the proposals will be opened, recorded and reviewed to be certain the administrative requirements of the RFP have been met.
4. Procurement will forward copies of the proposals and RFP to evaluation committee members and the school/department contact. These will be accompanied by an instruction memorandum, and any other pertinent information.
5. Committee members will independently read and evaluate the proposals prior to the committee's first meeting.  The evaluation must be done in accordance with the criteria contained in the RFP.  Committee members must treat the information in proposals as confidential during the evaluation process. The ratings for individual criteria as well as the overall rating will be consensus ratings.
6. The Procurement representative shall facilitate and assist the committee. The Procurement representative will arrange interviews and clarifications, if necessary.
7. The committee will submit a recommendation for award to Procurement. A copy of the committee rankings will be kept in the RFP file. The committee's recommendation must contain the following:

• Name and location of the offerors considered;
• A ranking of the proposals submitted;
• The criteria used for evaluation;
• The consensus and recommendation for award of the committee; and
• If applicable, recommendations for any provisions or prices which are to be negotiated with the recommended offeror.

8. The committee shall not consider its recommendation as authorization to notify any offeror of the status of the evaluation.
9. The committee chair will provide a written recommendation to the dean/department head supporting its review and recommendation. If management approves the committee’s recommendation, the procurement action will continue through the normal university procurement and contract approval process. If management rejects the committee’s recommendation, and selects a different vendor, then management will notify the committee chair of this action along with the reasons and justifications. Management may reject all of the vendors and ask that the procurement process be reopened and the committee will be reconvened to review the new bids and quotations.
10. Once management approves the selection, Procurement, in cooperation with the school/department, will conduct negotiations with the highest ranked offeror. If agreement cannot be reached, negotiations may begin with the next highest ranked proposer or subsequent proposers until an agreement is reached or all proposals are rejected. The school/department will be asked to review the draft contract document before the buyer and the contractor execute it.
11. Procurement will notify all offerors of the selection and debrief any offerors requesting a debriefing.

If the RFP is for a professional service that does not allow cost to be a factor in evaluating, the committee will provide Procurement with a short list of offerors in the order in which they are ranked. Procurement will seek price proposals and negotiate a contract in coordination with the school/department.

Please read Appendix A – Evaluation Committee Formation and Procedures for details on the process and services provided.