§ 3.8.040. Competitive sealed proposals.

A.

When, not required by law, the City Manager or a department head determines in writing that the use of competitive sealed bidding is either not practicable or not advantageous to the City, a contract may be entered into by competitive sealed proposals.

B.

Proposals must be solicited through a request for proposals.

C.

Adequate public notice of the request for proposals must be given, pursuant to applicable state and federal laws and regulations.

D.

Proposals must be opened so as to avoid disclosure of contents to competing offerors during the process of negotiation. A register of proposals must be prepared and open for public inspection at the City Clerk's Office after contract award.

E.

The request for proposals must state the relative importance of price and other evaluation factors.

F.

As provided in the request for proposals, discussions may be conducted with responsible offerors who submit apparently responsive proposals for the purpose of clarification, to assure full understanding of and responsiveness to the solicitation requirements. Offerors must be accorded fair and equal treatment with respect to any opportunity for discussion and revision of proposals, and such revisions may be permitted, after submissions and prior to award, for the purpose of obtaining best and final offers. In conducting discussions, there may be no disclosure of any information derived from proposals submitted by competing offerors. The City may require the submission of cost or pricing data in connection with an award under this section.

G.

The award must be made to the responsible offeror whose proposal is determined in writing to be the most advantageous to the City, taking into consideration price, including the preference in 18-1-102 MCA, and the evaluation factors set forth in the request for proposals. No other factors or criteria may be used in the evaluation. The contract file shall contain the basis on which the award is made.

(Ord. 3154, 2017)