OAR 125-247-0550: Prequalification of Prospective Offerors, Pre-negotiation of Contract Terms and Conditions, and Request for Qualifications (RFQ)

(1) Prequalification of Prospective Offerors. An Authorized Agency may prequalify prospective Offerors according to ORS 279B.120 and 279B.125. Despite the prohibition against revocation of prequalification in ORS 279B.120(3), an Authorized Agency may determine that a prequalified Offeror is not Responsible before Contract Award. (2) Pre-negotiation of Contract Terms and Conditions. An Authorized Agency may pre-negotiate some or all Contract terms and conditions including prospective Proposer Contract forms such as license agreements, maintenance and support agreements or similar documents for use in future Procurements. Such pre-negotiation of Contract terms and conditions (including prospective Proposer forms) may be part of the prequalification process of a Proposer in Section (1) or the pre-negotiation may be a separate process and not part of a prequalification process. Unless required as part of the prequalification process, the failure of the Authorized Agency and the prospective Proposer to reach agreement on pre-negotiated Contract terms and conditions does not prohibit the prospective Proposer from responding to Procurements. An Authorized Agency may agree to different pre-negotiated Contract terms and conditions with different prospective Proposers. When an Authorized Agency has pre-negotiated different terms and conditions with Proposers or when permitted, Proposers offer different terms and conditions, an Authorized Agency may consider the terms and conditions in the Proposal evaluation process. (3) Request for Qualifications (RFQ). For purposes of this Section, an RFQ may be used without the RFQ constituting a Prequalification according to Section (1) of this Rule, if the Authorized Agency establishes the RFQ to determine whether competition exists to perform the needed services or to establish a nonbinding, open list of qualified Contractors in addition to the general public and in order to expand the pool of qualified Contractors, before issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP). If an Authorized Agency establishes a closed, exclusive, or binding list of qualified Contractors, then the Authorized Agency must comply with Section (1) of this Rule. The Authorized Agency is not required to issue an RFQ and may elect to forego using an RFQ before issuing an RFP. (a) At a minimum, the RFQ must describe the particular specialty desired, the qualifications the Contractor(s) must have in order to be considered, and the evaluation factors and their relative importance. The RFQ may require information including, but not limited to: the Contractor's particular capability to perform the required services; the number of experienced staff available to perform the required services, including specific qualifications and experience of personnel; a list of similar services the Contractor has completed, with references concerning past performance; and any other information deemed necessary by the Authorized Agency to evaluate Contractor qualifications. (b) A qualifications pre-submission meeting, voluntary or mandatory, may be held for all interested Contractors to discuss the proposed services. The RFQ must include the date, time and place of the meeting(s). (c) Unless the RFQ establishes that competition does not exist or unless the Solicitation process is canceled or all qualification statements are rejected, all respondents who met the published qualifications must receive a notice, or other materials as appropriate, in addition to the general public, of any required services and have an opportunity to submit a proposal in response to an Authorized Agency's subsequent RFP. (d) All RFQs must: (A) Be in Writing; (B) Be posted on OregonBuys or other Electronic Procurement System approved by the State Chief Procurement Officer; (C) Provide that the Authorized Agency may, at any time during the Solicitation process, reject any or all Proposals or cancel the Solicitation without liability if it is in the public interest to do so; and (D) Provide that the Authorized Agency is not responsible for any costs of any proposers incurred while submitting Proposals, and that all Proposers who respond to Solicitations do so solely at their own expense, unless compensation is expressly provided for in the Solicitation Document. (e) In accordance with ORS 200.035, and applicable related Department statewide policy, a State Contracting Agency, as defined in ORS 279A.010, must provide Timely Notice, in Writing, to the Governor’s Policy Advisor for Economic and Business Equity of each Solicitation and contracting opportunity exceeding $10,000. As used in ORS 200.035 and this Rule, “Timely Notice” means at the time the State Contracting Agency advertises or solicits Bids or Proposals and at the time the State Contracting Agency publicly releases the Contract.