Section 4.2035  Competitive Selection Procedures for Professional and Artistic Services

a)         Application

1)         The provisions of this Section apply to every procurement of professional and artistic services except, those subject to the Architectural, Engineering and Land Surveying Qualifications Based Selection Act [30 ILCS 535] and except as provided in subsection (e).

2)         "Professional and artistic services" means those services provided under contract to a university by a person or business, acting as an independent contractor, qualified by education, experience and technical ability [30 ILCS 500/1-15.60].

b)         Professional and artistic services are further defined as follows:

1)         "Qualified by education" means the individual who would perform the services must have obtained the level of education specified in the Request for Proposals.

2)         "Qualified by experience" means the individual who would perform the services must have the level of general experience specified in the Request for Proposals.

3)         "Qualified by technical ability" means the individual who would perform the services demonstrates a high degree of skill or ability in performing services that are the same, similar or closely related in nature to those specified in the Request for Proposals.

4)         An essential element distinguishing professional services from other services is confidence, trust and belief in not only the ability, but the talent, of the individual performing the service.

5)         Professional and artistic services are primarily for intellectual or creative skills.  Contracts for services primarily involving manual skills or labor are not professional and artistic services contracts.

6)         If the professional or artistic contract is with a firm or other business entity, the individuals whose education, experience and technical ability provided the basis on which the firm or other business entity was selected must meet the qualifications.

7)         When a university requires services that meet the requirements of this subsection (b), the competitive selection procedures described in this Section must be followed.  Services that do not meet the requirements of this Section must be procured in accordance with the other methods of source selection authorized by the Code and this Part.

c)         The categories of services enumerated in this subsection (c) shall be considered and procured as professional and artistic services.  With regard to other services, the SPO may determine whether the factors identified in subsection (b), when applied to particular services to be procured, require the services to be procured as professional and artistic under these competitive selection procedures, or as services that are subject to one of the other methods of source selection authorized by the Code and this Part.  The following categories are examples of disciplines that would always be professional and artistic services:

1)         law;

2)         accounting;

3)         medicine;

4)         dentistry; and

5)         clinical psychology.

d)         Architect, engineering and land surveying services shall be procured pursuant to the procedures of the Architectural, Engineering, and Land Surveying Qualifications Based Selection Act [30 ILCS 535]. These procurements are not subject to the procedures for other professional services established in the Code or this Part.

e)         Conditions for Use of Competitive Selection Procedures.

Except as authorized under Section 20-25 (Sole Economically Feasible Source Procurement) or Section 20-30 (Emergency Procurements) of the Code, these competitive selection procedures shall be used for all procurements of professional and artistic services of $20,000 or more.  Services of less than $20,000 and for a nonrenewable term of one year or less may be procured in accordance with Section 4.2020 (Small Purchases) of this Part.

f)         Request for Proposals

Professional and artistic services shall be procured using an RFP.

1)         Contents.  The RFP shall be in the form specified by the CPO-HE and shall contain at least the following information:

A)        the type of services required;

B)        a description of the work involved;

C)        an estimate of when and for how long the services will be required;

D)        the type of contract to be used;

E)        a date by which proposals for the performance of the services shall be submitted;

F)         a statement of the minimum information that the proposal shall contain, which may, by way of example, include:

i)          the name of the offeror, the location of the offeror's principal place of business and, if different, the place of performance of the proposed contract;

ii)         if deemed relevant, the age of the offeror's business and average number of employees over a previous period of time, as specified in the RFP;

iii)        the abilities, qualifications and experience of all persons who would be assigned to provide the required services;

iv)        a listing of other contracts under which services similar in scope, size or discipline to the required services were performed or undertaken within a previous period of time, as specified in the RFP;

v)         a plan giving as much detail as is practical explaining how the services will be performed;

G)        price (to be submitted in a separate envelope in the proposal package and not mentioned elsewhere in the proposal package);

H)        the factors to be used in the evaluation and selection process and their relative importance; and

I)         a plan for post-performance review to be conducted by the university after completion of services and before final payment and made part of the procurement file.

2)         Evaluation.  Proposals shall be evaluated on the basis of evaluation factors stated in the RFP.  Price will not be evaluated until ranking of all proposals and identification of the most qualified vendor. The relative importance of the evaluation factors will vary according to the type of services being procured. The minimum factors are:

A)        the plan for performing the required services;

B)        ability to perform the services as reflected by technical training and education, general experience, specific experience in providing the required services and the qualifications and abilities of personnel proposed to be assigned to perform the services;

C)        the personnel, equipment and facilities to perform the services currently available or demonstrated to be made available at the time of contracting; and

D)        a record of past performance of similar work.

g)         Delivery, Receipt and Handling of Proposals

1)         Receipt.  Upon its receipt, each proposal and modification shall be date and time-stamped but not opened and shall be stored in a secure place until the time and date set for opening.  If a proposal is opened for identification purposes or opened in error, the file shall state the reason for the error.

2)         Proposals shall be submitted to and opened by the CPO-HE, SPO or the CPO-HE's designee.

A)        Proposals and modifications shall be opened publicly at the time, date and place designated in the RFP.

B)        Opening shall be witnessed by a State witness or by any other person present, but the person opening proposals shall not serve as witness.  A record shall be prepared that shall include the name of each offeror and a description sufficient to identify the service item offered.  The record of proposals shall be open to public inspection after award of the contract.

C)        Proposals and modifications shall be opened in a manner designed to avoid disclosing contents to competitors.  Only authorized State personnel and contractual agents may review the proposals prior to award.

3)         Transmission to the SPO.  The CPO-HE will forward timely proposals to the responsible SPO of the university along with any pertinent information contained in the files of the CPO-HE regarding the vendors who submitted proposals.

4)         The CPO-HE may require that the SPO be present at and assist in the opening and registration of proposals.

h)         Discussions

1)         Discussions Permissible.  The CPO-HE or SPO may conduct discussions with any offeror to:

A)        determine in greater detail the offeror's qualifications; and

B)        explore with the offeror the scope and nature of the required services, the offeror's proposed method of performance and the relative utility of alternative methods of approach.  The SPO may allow changes to the proposal based on those discussions.

2)         No Disclosure of Information.  Discussions shall not disclose any information derived from proposals submitted by other offerors, and the university conducting the procurement shall not disclose any information contained in any proposals until after award of the proposed contract.

i)          Selection of the Best Qualified Offerors

After conclusion of validation of qualifications, evaluation and discussion, the SPO shall rank the acceptable offerors in the order of their respective qualifications.

j)          Evaluation of Pricing Data

Pricing submitted for all acceptable proposals shall be ranked.

1)         If the low price is submitted by the most qualified vendor, the SPO may award to that vendor.

2)         If the price of the most qualified vendor is not low and if it does not exceed $25,000, the SPO but not a designee may award to that vendor.

3)         If the price of the best qualified vendor exceeds $25,000, the SPO, but not a designee, must state why a vendor other than the low priced vendor was selected and that determination shall be published in the Bulletin.

k)         Negotiation and Award of Contract

1)         General.  The SPO or designee shall attempt to negotiate a contract with the best qualified offeror for the required services at fair and reasonable compensation.  The SPO may, in the interest of efficiency, negotiate with the next highest ranked vendor, while negotiating with the best qualified vendor.

2)         Elements of Negotiation.  At a minimum, contract negotiations shall be directed toward:

A)        making certain that the offeror has a clear understanding of the scope of the work, specifically, the essential requirements involved in providing the required services;

B)        determining that the offeror will make available the necessary personnel and facilities to perform the services within the required time; and

C)        agreeing upon compensation that is fair and reasonable, taking into account the estimated value of the required services and the scope, complexity and nature of those services.

3)         Successful Negotiation of Contract with Best Qualified Offeror

A)        If compensation, contract requirements and contract documents can be agreed upon with the best qualified offeror, the contract shall be awarded to that offeror, unless the procurement is canceled.

B)        Compensation must be determined in writing to be fair and reasonable. Fair and reasonable compensation shall be determined by the SPO based on the circumstances of the particular procurement, including, but not limited to, the nature of the services needed, qualifications of the offerors, consideration of range of prices received in the course of the procurement, other available pricing information and the agency's identified budget.

4)         Failure to Negotiate Contract with Best Qualified Offeror

A)        If compensation, contract requirements or contract documents cannot be agreed upon with the best qualified offeror, a written record stating the reasons shall be placed in the file.  The SPO shall advise the offeror of the termination of negotiations.

B)        Upon failure to negotiate a contract with the best qualified offeror, the SPO may enter into negotiations with the next most qualified offeror.

l)          Multiple Awards

The SPO may enter into negotiations with the next most qualified vendor or vendors when the university has a need that requires multiple vendors under contract.

m)        Notice of Award

The notice of award must include the information identified in Section 4.1525.  Written notice of award shall be public information and made a part of the contract file.  Publication shall be in the next available issue of the Bulletin.

n)         Prequalification

Prequalification of professional and artistic vendors shall not be used to bar or prevent an otherwise qualified person from responding to a request for proposal for professional and artistic services.

(Source:  Amended at 36 Ill. Reg. 10951, effective August 6, 2012)