Purchasing and Business Services Manual (PUR)

Revised: 7/15/2008

PUR 402–03: Professional Design Services Costing More than $250,000 and Construction Services

1. Submit the description of the project, scope of work, and the evaluation criteria for this project to Purchasing and Business Services (PBS).

2. Prepare a request for statements of qualifications and experience (RFQ) for the specific design and/or construction services needed on the project.

3. Submit a Payment Voucher (PV) to PBS for advertising the RFQ for the project.
4. Nominate an evaluation committee on an Evaluation Committee Selection Authorization form. This form is submitted to the director of PBS. If the RFQ is for professional services, the director of PBS will determine the number and qualifications of the evaluation committee members. If the RFQ is for construction services, the evaluation committee will not have more than seven members and must include one person who is an outside licensed contractor and one person who is a registered architect or engineer. These licensed and registered people may be employees of the university or outside consultants. If outside consultants, they will not be compensated for providing this service, but may be reimbursed reasonable expenses. These licensed and registered people may not provide and may not be affiliated with a firm that provides any goods or services relating to the project covered by the RFQ.

5. Advertise the RFQ in accordance with PUR 501–02, “Advertising for Bids.”
6. Mail or otherwise distribute the RFQ to a wide number of professional and/or construction services firms, including small and disadvantaged firms.
7. Receive and log responses to the RFQ. Reject any received after the date and time set for closing the RFQ. After the RFQ is closed, forward responses to the evaluation committee.

8. Evaluate the statements of qualifications and experience submitted in response to the RFQ.
9. Conduct discussions with at least three but not more than five persons or firms as specified in the RFQ regarding the contract and the relative methods of approach for furnishing the required professional or construction services.
10. In order of preference, based on criteria established and published in the RFQ, select a short list of three of the persons, or firms, the evaluation committee deems to be the most qualified to provide the professional or construction services. The selection of the short list and order of preference must be based on demonstrated competence and qualifications only. Fees, price, man-hours, or any other cost information may not be requested or considered in the selection of the short list or order of preference. For an RFQ for construction services only, do not include on the short list any person or firm that includes or employs any person or firm that has provided for compensation any services relating to the project covered by the RFQ. If only two responsible and responsive persons or firms respond to the solicitation, the evaluation committee may either proceed with the selection process with those two persons or firms or request that PBS readvertise the RFQ.
11. Submit the short list in order of preference through the assistant vice provost and facilities chief planning officer to the director of PBS.

12. Issue a notice of intent to award a contract for professional or construction services to one of the persons or firms on the short list prepared by the evaluation committee. If only two persons or firms are on the short list, the director of PBS or designee may elect either to proceed with the selection process or to readvertise the RFQ.
13. Enter into negotiations for a contract with the person or firm most qualified to provide the professional or construction services. Include consideration of compensation and other contract terms that are determined to be fair and reasonable to the university. In making this decision, take into account the estimated value, scope, complexity, and nature of the professional or construction services to be rendered. If unable to negotiate a satisfactory contract with the person or firm considered to be the most qualified, formally terminate negotiations with that person or firm and undertake negotiations with the next most qualified person or firm in sequence until an agreement is reached or a determination is made to reject all persons or firms on the short list. If a contract for construction services is entered into, construction shall not commence until the university and contractor agree in writing on a fixed price or a guaranteed maximum price for the construction to be commenced.
14. Provide a memorandum to CPMG outlining the fee negotiations and the final proposed fee for service. File a copy in the contract file.

15. Forward to PBS a Purchase Request for the required services and any information needed to complete the contract documents.

16. Prepare the contract documents in three originals and obtain appropriate signatures. Monitor the process to ensure that documents and any required insurance certificates and bonds are returned in a timely manner.
17. Distribute an original of the contract documents to PBS, to the contractor, and to the design professional.
18. Issue a Purchase Order to encumber funds and accommodate the billing and payment process.

19. When the project is complete, submit to PBS all project close-out data and documentation, including the Consultant Performance Evaluation form as applicable.

12. Issue a request for proposals (RFP) to the persons or firms on the short list developed pursuant to the preceding steps.
13. Include the following in the RFP:
    
    1. the university’s schedule and budget for the project or a life-cycle budget if the procurement includes maintenance or operations services
    2. a statement that the contract will be awarded to the person or firm whose proposal receives the highest number of points under a scoring method
    3. a description of the scoring methods, including the factors used and the number of points allocated to each.

       Required Scoring Factors

       1. demonstrated compliance with design requirements (for design-build construction services only)
       2. offeror qualifications
       3. offeror financial capacity
       4. compliance with the university’s project schedule
       5. for design-build construction services only, if the RFP specifies that the university will spend its project budget and not more than its project budget and is seeking the best proposal for the project budget, compliance of the offeror’s price with the university’s project budget
       6. price for job-order-contracting construction services or price for design-build construction services or life-cycle price for procurements that include maintenance, operations, or finance services, if the RFP does not include the budget specifications in item 5 above
       7. offeror quality management plan

          and

       8. any other evaluation factors determined by the university.
    4. design requirements (for design-build construction services only)
    5. the requirement for separate submissions of technical proposal and price proposal, which together are responsive to the requirements in the RFP. For design-build construction services, the price proposal is a fixed or a guaranteed maximum price
    6. a statement that the selection committee evaluates and scores the technical proposal separately and before opening and evaluating the price proposal
    7. a statement that, if the university conducts discussions pursuant to step 14 (following), each offeror must submit a preliminary technical proposal before the discussions are held

       and

    8. for design-build construction services only, the percentage to be used in calculating the stipulated fee under step 23 below.
14. If determined by the university and included in the RFP, conduct discussions with all persons or firms that submit preliminary technical proposals to ensure full understanding of, and responsiveness to, the solicitation requirements. Accord fair treatment with respect to any opportunity for discussion and for clarification by the offeror. Permit revision of preliminary technical proposals before award for the purpose of obtaining the best and final proposals. Do not disclose information derived from proposals submitted by competing offerors during any discussions with offerors.

15. After completion of any discussions pursuant to step 14 (preceding) or if no discussions are held, request each offeror to submit separately its final technical proposal and its sealed price proposal to PBS.
16. Forward the final technical proposals to the evaluation committee and hold the sealed price proposals unopened.

17. Open, evaluate, and score the final technical proposals using the scoring method in the RFP before receiving any price proposal. No other factors or criteria may be used in the evaluation and scoring.

18. After completion of the evaluation and scoring of all final technical proposals, deliver sealed price proposals to the evaluation committee.

19. Open, evaluate, and score the price proposals and complete the scoring of the entire proposal using the scoring method in the RFP. No other factors or criteria may be used in the evaluation and scoring.
20. Forward to PBS a signed memorandum documenting the scoring for all final technical and price proposals and make a recommendation for award.

21. Award the contract to the responsive and responsible offeror whose proposal receives the highest score under the method of scoring in the RFP. No other factors or criteria may be used in the evaluation.
22. File the basis on which the award was made in the contract file.
23. For design-build construction services only, award a stipulated fee equal to a percentage, as prescribed in the RFP, of the university’s project budget, but not less than two-tenths of one percent of the project budget to each short list offeror who provides a responsive, but unsuccessful, proposal. If a contract is not awarded, all responsive short-list offerors receive the stipulated fee. Pay the stipulated fee to each offeror within 90 days after the award of the initial contract or the decision not to award a contract.

    Note:

    In consideration for paying the stipulated fee, the director of PBS or designee may use any ideas or information contained in the proposals in connection with any contract awarded for the project, or in connection with a subsequent procurement, without any obligation to pay any additional compensation to the unsuccessful offerors. Notwithstanding the other provisions of this paragraph, an unsuccessful short-list offeror may elect to waive the stipulated fee. If an unsuccessful short-list offeror elects to waive the stipulated fee, the university may not use ideas and information contained in the offeror’s proposal. However, this restriction does not prevent the university from using any idea or information included in a proposal of an offeror that accepts the stipulated fee.

24. Forward to PBS a Purchase Request for the required services and any information needed to complete the contract documents.

25. Prepare the contract documents in three originals and obtain appropriate signatures. Monitor the process to ensure that the documents and any required insurance certificates and bonds are returned in a timely manner.
26. Distribute an original of the contract documents to PBS, to the contractor, and to CPMG for any other consultants or contractors.
27. Issue a Purchase Order to encumber funds and accommodate the billing and payment process.

28. When the project is complete, submit to PBS all project close-out data and documentation, including the Consultant Performance Evaluation form as applicable.

1. Until award and execution of a contract by a university, make only the name of each person or firm on any short list available to the public. Keep all other information received by the university in response to a request for qualifications (RFQ) or a request for proposals (RFP) confidential to avoid disclosure of the contents that may be prejudicial to competing offerors during the selection process. Open proposals to public inspection after the contract is awarded and the university has executed the contract. To the extent that an offeror designates and the university concurs, trade secrets and other proprietary data contained in a proposal remain confidential. Refer any request for information relating to a proposal resulting from an RFQ or RFP under evaluation to Purchasing and Business Services.

2. Cancel an RFQ or RFP or reject in whole or in part any or all proposals as specified in the solicitation if it is in the best interest of the university. Make the reasons for cancellation or rejection part of the contract file.