Section 550.342  Competitive Negotiation – Optional Procedure for Negotiation and Award of Agreement for Architectural and Engineering Services

a)         The Agency may evaluate and select an architect or engineer using the procedures in this Section in place of the procedures in Section 550.340.

b)         The Agency may use either a prequalified list or responses to requests for statement of qualifications to determine the most technically qualified architects or engineers.

c)         After selecting and ranking the most qualified architects or engineers, the Agency will request technical proposals from those architects or engineers and inform them of the evaluation criteria the Agency will use to rank the proposals.

d)         The Agency shall then select and determine, in writing, the best technical proposal.

e)         After selecting the best proposal, the Agency shall negotiate fair and reasonable compensation with the offeror.  "Fair and reasonable compensation" is compensation which is sufficient to reward offerors who possess talents and skills necessary to the accomplishment of project objectives and to stimulate efficient and expeditious completion of the project.

f)          If the Agency and the offeror of the best proposal cannot agree on the amount of compensation, the Agency shall formally terminate negotiations with the offeror.  The Agency shall then negotiate with the offeror with the next best proposal.  This process will continue until the Agency reaches agreement on compensation with an offeror with an acceptable proposal.  Once the Agency terminates negotiations with an offeror, the Agency shall not renegotiate with that offeror.