(A) If the Procurement Manager determines in writing that the use of competitive sealed bidding is either not practicable or not advantageous to the City, a contract for materials or services may be entered into by competitive sealed proposals. This section does not apply to procurement of construction, construction services or specified professional services pursuant to § 3-5-20. Construction services shall be procured pursuant to §§ 3-5-14 or 3-5-20.

(B) Proposals shall be solicited through a request for proposals.

(C) Adequate public notice of the request for proposals shall be given in the same manner as provided in § 3-5-9.

(D) Proposals shall be opened publicly at the time and place designated in the request for proposals. The name of each offeror and such other relevant information shall be publicly read and recorded in accordance with rules adopted by the Procurement Manager. All other information contained in the proposals shall be confidential until after contract award. Any trade secrets or other proprietary data designated by the offeror may or may not remain confidential in accordance with rules adopted by the Procurement Manager.

(E) The request for proposals shall state the relative importance of price and other evaluation factors. Specific numerical weighting is not required.

(F) As provided in the request for proposals, and under rules adopted by the Procurement Manager, discussions may be conducted with responsible offerors who submit proposals determined to be reasonably susceptible to being selected for award for the purpose of clarification to assure full understanding of the solicitation requirements and to permit revision of offers. Offerors shall be accorded fair treatment with respect to any opportunity for discussion. Revisions may be permitted after submission and before award. If discussions are conducted, all offerors who have submitted proposals that are determined by the Procurement Manager to be in the competitive range shall be invited to submit a final proposal revision. In conducting discussions, there shall be no disclosure of any information derived from proposals submitted by competing offerors.

(G) The award shall be made to the responsible and responsive offeror whose proposal is determined in writing to be the most advantageous to the City taking into consideration the evaluation factors set forth in the request for proposals. No other factors or criteria may be used in the evaluation. The amount of any applicable transaction privilege or use tax of the City, except as allowed by § 3-5-9(F) and applied to proposals, is not a factor in determining the most advantageous proposal. The contract file shall contain the basis on which the award is made. (Ord. 08-1137, passed 9-22-2008)