Evaluation

What is important??? Cost Quality Delivery Supplier Expertise Financial Stability Coverage Product Offerings Do you intend to negotiate?

What do the Statutes say? Best Value – “Best value criteria” means evaluation criteria which may include, but is not limited to, the following: The acquisition’s operational cost a state agency would incur, The quality of the acquisition, or its technical competency, The reliability of the bidder’s delivery and implementation schedules, The acquisition’s facilitation of data transfer and systems integration, The acquisition’s warranties and guarantees and the bidder’s return policy,

What do the Statutes say? The bidder’s financial stability, The acquisition’s adherence to the state agency’s planning documents and announced strategic program direction, The bidder’s industry and program experience and record of successful past performance with acquisitions of similar scope and complexity The anticipated acceptance by user groups, and The acquisition’s use of proven development methodology, and innovative use of current technologies that lead to quality results

What do the Statutes say? Lowest and Best “Lowest and best” means an acquisition based on criteria which include, but are not limited to, the following: the lowest total purchase price the quality and reliability of the products, and the consistency of the proposed acquisition with the state’s planning documents and announced strategic program direction

How will we evaluate? Pass / Fail Financial stability Samples Ability to meet delivery schedule Responsiveness Weighted / Scored criteria Cost Quality Expertise Normalization Mathematical computation

Why Pass / Fail? To keep playing field level To determine responsiveness To simplify qualification process Can be weighted Will not be scored

Solicitation Criteria Providing the evaluation criteria for award in a solicitation informs prospective bidders of the basis for award decisions List criteria within solicitation in order of importance Reflect the same criteria within scoring tool Typically weights are not provided within solicitation

Weighted / Scored Criteria Weighting allows more importance to be associated with criteria Example: Total possible points equal 100 Cost weight = 40% (weighted, not scored) Experience = 30% (weighted and scored) Technical submittal = 20% (weighted and scored) References = 10% (weighted, not scored)

Scoring Criteria Must be developed prior to solicitation issue date & provided in a separate section of the solicitation (section D in the Standard Solicitation Package) Must be consistent with solicitation If you did not ask for the information in your “Instructions” on the submittals, you cannot score it on responses Should have baseline if criteria is scored To facilitate consistency To guide evaluation team

Objectively Rated Baseline Criteria for Experience Criteria of Experience is worth 30% (30 points) Project manager has 2 – 5 years experience with similar projects = 10 points Project manager has 6 – 10 years experience with similar projects = 20 points Project manager has in excess of 10 years experience with similar projects = 30 points

Subjectively Rated Criteria Baseline for Technical Requirement RatingScoreDescription Outstanding Proposal meets requirements and indicates an outstanding approach and understanding of requirements Good Proposal meets requirements and indicates a good approach and understanding of requirements Adequate Proposal meets requirements and indicates an adequate approach and understanding of requirements Unacceptable0 Proposal does not meet requirements and is unacceptable

Normalization If cost is weighted but not scored, how do I rate cost submissions? MATHEMATICAL Possible point for cost = 40 points Vendor A submits a cost of $1,115 Vendor B submits a cost of $1,200 Vendor C submits a cost of $1,000

Mathematical Normalization Normalized Score = Lowest Proposed / (Proposed / Weight) Normalized Score for A = $1000 or the full 40 Points Normalized Score for B = $1115 or $1000/$1115=.8968% x 40 = Points Normalized Score for C = $1200 or $1000/$1200=.8333%x40 = Points

EVALUATION METHODS Individual Scoring – Each member scores the responses individually using the Evaluation tool and they are averaged to determine the final vendor score for weighting. Consensus Scoring – Each member scores the responses individually using the Evaluation tool. – The group meets and discusses each score and the facts behind the scores given. – The group then mutually agrees to the score to be given on each of the criteria eligible for scoring.

EVALUATION METHODS- Advantages Individual Scoring On less complex solicitations, it takes less time. Logistics or schedules of the team may make it difficult for them to meet. Consensus Scoring Upon discussion, you may find additional information you missed when you scored the responses the first time. Someone in the group may have interpreted the vendor’s response wording with a different context. Better buy-in from the evaluation team, who may be end-users of the product or service.

Who should be on the evaluation team?  The evaluation team should be made up of members who were active in solicitation process from the beginning of developing the specification to establishing the Evaluation Criteria.  The evaluation team should be made aware in advance of participation, they are required to keep the scoring weights and any and all information they obtain during the solicitation and evaluation process confidential (from everyone outside the team) until award announcement is made and must sign a document stating such.

Who should be on the evaluation team? The evaluation team should be made aware in advance of participation that any and all contact they have with any of the responding vendors will be required to be disclosed and if that contact is inappropriate, the vendor will be disqualified. The evaluation team should be made aware in advance they cannot use specifications from one vendor to establish the criteria. They should be end users, subject-matter experts and/or other team members who will interface with the acquisition outcome or have purchased similar products/services in the past.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS What role does the buyer play? The buyer is the “facilitator”, the gate-keeper who controls all contact between vendors and your agency during the process and the person responsible for knowing if Federal funds are involved and the governing laws that may be in addition to state laws for that acquisition. If I have information on a vendor that is left out of the response can I use it in the evaluation? No. You can only evaluate what was received with the response. I have a vendor who supplied great information, but it is not what we requested from the other vendors. Can I use it on the evaluation? No. Unless you are using the PIPs process, you can only evaluate the responses based on what you ask all vendors to submit.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS What can I do to help the process and keep my vendors interested in bidding on future projects? – As is always repeated, do what you said you were going to do. – Treat all your vendors with equal respect. – Make the information clear and easy to understand. – Consider debriefing vendors who may have a question on how their response was scored so they can do a better job next time. – Consider a summary report that explains the process and how the award determination was made.

So…… Are you ready to head your first Evaluation team?