1. (a) Evaluation.

   1. (1) The evaluation shall be based on the evaluation factors set forth in the request for proposals.
   2. (2) All members of evaluation committees shall participate in evaluation committee training sponsored either by the Office of State Procurement or the college or university agency procurement official.
   3. (3) Evaluations will be conducted in accordance with office policy.
   4. (4) A written recommendation shall be made by the evaluation committee and submitted by the chairperson to the State Procurement Director or agency procurement official stating the basis on which the recommendation for award was found to be most advantageous to the state.

2. (b) Responsibility of offeror.

   1. (1)

      1. (A) Past performance of an offeror may be used by the procurement agency to determine whether the offeror is “responsible”.
      2. (B) No points for past performance may be used in the evaluation scoring criteria unless:

3. (i) Past performance with the state is a non-mandatory evaluation criteria; and

   1. (ii) The same amount of points allocated for past performance with the state are also made available in the evaluation scoring criteria in such a way as to not prejudice offerors without past performance history with the state.

      1. (C)

         1. (i) Past performance must be supported by written documentation and shall have not occurred more than three (3) years before the proposal was submitted.
         2. (ii) Documentation may be:
4. (a) (a) A formal vendor performance report;

5. (b) (b) An informal memo, signed and dated; or

   1. (c) (c) Any other appropriate authenticated notation of performance to the vendor file.

      1. (iii) Reports, memos, and files may be in electronic form.

      2. (D)

         1. (i) Past performance may be positive or negative.
         2. (ii)
6. (a) (a) Past performance on contracts from other Arkansas state agencies may also be used for evaluation.

7. (b) (b) Supporting documentation should be provided.

   1. (iii) Past performance evaluation should not take the place of suspension or debarment procedures.

   2. (2) The awarding of points for references may be used as evaluation scoring criteria if set forth in the solicitation.

      1. (c) Tie bids.

   3. (1) Definitions. As used in this section:

      1. (A) “Arkansas company” means a domestic corporation, limited liability company, partnership, or not-for-profit organization as defined by Arkansas law; and
      2. (B) “Out-of-state company” means all foreign entities as defined by Arkansas law.
   4. (2) In the event the lowest prices offered result in a tie bid, the person responsible for awarding a contract must ensure that all offers meet specifications.
   5. (3) In the event of a tie bid between two (2) or more offers that meet the specifications as required and where one (1) of the offerors is an Arkansas company, then the award shall be made to that Arkansas company.

   6. (4) In the event of a tie bid between two (2) or more offers that meet the specifications as required:

      1. (A) And where at least two (2) of the offerors are Arkansas companies, then an award will be determined by lot (flip of a coin) between those Arkansas companies; or
      2. (B) If all of the offerors are out-of-state companies, then an award will be determined by lot (flip of a coin) among all the offerors.

   7. (5)

      1. (A) The coin flip will be done in the presence of at least one (1) witness by the person responsible for awarding the contract.
      2. (B) All witnesses must be employees of the State of Arkansas.

      3. (C) A documentation of the coin flip must be:

         1. (i) Included on the tabulation or bid history sheet; and
         2. (ii) Signed by the person responsible for awarding the contract and all witnesses.
         3. (d) Private evaluators.
   8. (1) An agency may use qualified evaluators from nonstate governmental entities or the private sector.
   9. (2) There is no limit on the number of private evaluators that may be used on an evaluation committee, but they must abide by all ethical standards and legal requirements a state employee or former state employee would have to meet in order to serve as an evaluator.

Codification Notes: This section was promulgated as R5:19-11-230 of the Procurement Rules prior to codification into the Code of Arkansas Rules.