OAR 411-011-0015: Response by Area Agency on Aging to Requests for Proposal

(1) An Area Agency on Aging may respond to its own Request for Proposal (RFP). In doing so, it shall process the evaluation of responses to such a Request for Proposal in the following manner: (a) The Area Agency on Aging shall place its pricing (only unit cost) proposal, along with the notice of intent to propose, in the RFP so that all other agencies or organizations wishing to submit proposals may determine whether or not they are able to submit proposals in competition to the one published by the Area Agency on Aging; (b) When another agency or organization submits a proposal, in addition to the Area Agency, evaluation of all RFPs shall be accomplished by a fair and impartial evaluation team. Membership on the panel by Area Agency Board and Advisory Council membership on the evaluation team shall constitute less than 50 percent. The evaluation team shall be chaired by a disinterested party not affiliated with the Area Agency or any of the proposers; (c) Technical and price proposals must not identify the organization submitting the proposal in any way in the proposal or on the envelope. Proposals which do identify the organization submitting the proposal in the technical or price proposals shall be deemed unresponsive and shall not be considered for possible contract award. The management proposal will be the only part of the proposal that identifies the organization submitting the proposal. The evaluation team shall not be aware of the organization submitting the proposal until after the technical and price proposals have been evaluated and scored; (d) If the Area Agency on Aging is the recipient of the award, it must meet the same contractual provisions, standards, and price that any non-Area Agency on Aging provider would be required to meet. (2) In the event the Area Agency on Aging Board selects the Area Agency as the provider over the recommendation of the evaluation team, the Area Agency must provide its justification in a public meeting held locally, and, in writing, document to the Senior Services Division Administrator the rationale for making its selection. The Administrator of the Senior Services Division or his/her designee, shall have the discretion to either uphold or override the decision of the Area Agency Board or cause the RFP to be reissued.