OAR 137-046-0330: Federally Funded Transit Projects — Preference for Exceeding Federal Buy America Requirements

(1) A contracting agency, in its Solicitation Documents to award a contract for a transit project that will be funded in whole or in part with funds from the federal government or a federal government agency, may provide for the application of a preference in favor of an Offeror whose bid or proposal exceeds the applicable federal Buy America requirements. (a) A contracting agency has discretion to adjust the amount or character of the preference to account for variations in the nature of the contract or project, and the degree to which each Offeror’s bid or proposal exceeds the federal Buy America requirements. (b) For example, in an invitation to bid procurement the contracting agency may authorize a range of preference price percentages to account for the various degrees to which the bidders might exceed the federal Buy America requirements. In no event, however, may the percentage preference given to a bidder exceed ten percent of the total bid price. (c) Similarly, under a request for proposals, the contracting agency may allocate and award evaluation points to reflect the degrees to which the proposers might exceed the applicable federal Buy America requirements. In no event, however, may those percentage points exceed ten percent of the total number of points available for award under the request for proposals.