1. (a) Solicitations. When an Open Market acquisition is over $25,000, a solicitation shall be utilized as required by state law and rules of this Chapter.
2. (b) Bid contents and solicitation amendment. The procurement documents shall indicate specifications of the acquisition, all information to be submitted with a bid and may reference manufacturer names, product names, or other product references as specifications to describe the type or quality of the acquisition. If a solicitation is amended, notice shall be provided online.
3. (c) Supplier notification. The State Purchasing Director will use reasonable efforts to notify all suppliers registered with the relevant commodity code(s) and all suppliers recommended by a state agency for a solicitation.
4. (d) Limited contact. All communication between potential bidders and staff of the acquiring agency related to a solicitation shall:
5. (1) be limited to the acquiring agency's designated procurement personnel, Information Services Technical Stakeholders and relevant legal counsel;
6. (2) be strictly prohibited from any other acquiring agency personnel, unless otherwise stated in the instructions to bidders; and
7. (3) be documented in writing and filed in the acquisition file.
8. (e) Evaluations. Solicitation documents shall clearly identify the evaluation criteria. The State Purchasing Director intends the evaluation process to precisely measure qualifications of the bidders and to accurately determine whether the bidder can satisfy all the requirements of the Solicitation. As such, the following tactics may be utilized when performing an evaluation of a Solicitation:
9. (1) Mandatory or optional down select. This can be utilized when the agency or Central Purchasing desires to have multiple rounds of evaluation, resulting in less bidders in each round. Any criteria for evaluating at each step shall be documented.
10. (2) Confidence ratings. In evaluating a resume, past experience, or demonstrations, confidence ratings may be utilized.
11. (3) Oral presentations. The evaluators may require all bidders to appear either in person or virtually to orally present the bid. After a presentation, evaluators and relevant stakeholders may ask questions and receive answers.
12. (4) Consensus evaluations. This means all evaluators can come together to give a final review and score. Discussion amongst the evaluators is encouraged. Final evaluation scores can be submitted on a single document after consensus evaluation, or each individual’s scoring can be utilized.
13. (5) Past performance. Bidder performance on previous contracts with the state may be considered in the evaluation.
14. (6) Blind evaluations. Any indication of the identity of the bidder may be redacted from a bid for purposes of evaluation to remove any possible bias or preference for a specific supplier.
15. (7) Any other technique successfully employed by the federal government for solicitation innovation.
16. (f) Identity of Evaluators.
17. (1) Any person who has relevant interests or relevant expertise may serve on the evaluation team. This includes employees of the purchasing agency, employees of another agency, or external third parties. Any third party who drafts or evaluates any part of the solicitation cannot bid or receive an award to that solicitation.
18. (2) Additional input can be gathered from other subject matter experts who will not serve as evaluators. These subject matter experts must sign the same conflict of interest and non-disclosure form as the evaluators, but will not issue a score of the bids. Any third party who offers input on bid responses cannot be a bidder or receive an award to that solicitation.
19. (g) Terms and conditions. All state terms and conditions for the acquisition should be included in the procurement documents. Any IT solicitation should contain the required IT terms published by ISD on the OMES website.
20. (h) Rejection of bids. In addition to reasons outlined in 260:115-7-32(o), if determined to be in the best interest of the State of Oklahoma, any or all bids or proposals may be rejected and a solicitation may be reissued or canceled. Such reissuing or cancellation shall not be grounds for protest.
21. (i) Pre-bid conference. Bidder instructions may state that a pre-bid conference will be held and shall state whether bidder attendance is mandatory or non-mandatory. This can include an open Question and Answer session. The conference should be recorded or transcribed and made available to all bidders.
22. (j) Closing date and time. Instructions to bidders shall include the bid response due date and time. In the event it is determined that a significant error or event occurred that affected the receipt of a bid, the State Purchasing Director may authorize acceptance of a bid after the specified official closing date and time. Failure of the bidder's computer or electronic equipment or service is not an acceptable event.
23. (k) Bid receipt. Upon receipt, the outside of all envelopes or containers shall be clearly marked with the receipt date and time. Electronic Submission of bids must be submitted in such a manner that the time and date of submission is electronically linked to the bid and cannot be changed.
24. (l) Prohibited disclosure. The decision regarding supplier evaluation or recommendation for award shall not be announced in any public manner or forum, including board meetings, until the contract has been awarded.
25. (m) Public inspection. The evaluation documentation shall be open for public inspection following contract award.
26. (n) Bid clarification. Clarification may be requested regarding the bidder's bid. The clarification shall not alter or supplement the bid.
27. (o) Reasons for bid rejection. The acquisition file shall be documented if a bid is non-responsive. Unless a bid minor deficiency may be cured pursuant to this rule or other guidance or directive of the State Purchasing Director, a bid may be rejected as non-responsive, or a bid from a bidder who is not responsible may be rejected, for reasons including, but not limited to reasons listed in this section:
28. (1) Non-responsive bid.
29. (A) Terms and conditions. A bid that does not meet the terms and conditions of the solicitation may be considered non-responsive.
30. (B) Forms use. A bid that does not contain forms or other information the solicitation specifies may be considered non-responsive.
31. (C) Incomplete forms. If forms required by the solicitation do not contain complete information, the bid may be considered non-responsive.
32. (D) Form entries improper. If information provided in the solicitation documents is not legible, typewritten or printed, or submitted in the electronic format specified in the solicitation, the bid may be considered non-responsive.
33. (E) Improper alterations. If alterations do not bear the initials of the person making the alteration, the bid may be considered non-responsive.
34. (F) Use of unauthorized signature. If a signature on a form is not an authorized signature pursuant to state laws and the rules of this chapter, the bid may be considered non-responsive.
35. (G) Absence of notary seal. If forms do not contain a notary seal where forms indicate or otherwise comply with the manner of notarization prescribed for the bidding supplier's state of residence, the bid may be considered non-responsive.
36. (H) Bid does not contain bid bond or other surety. If a bidder fails to include a bid bond or other surety specified as a requirement by a solicitation, the bid may be considered non-responsive.
37. (I) Bid does not contain samples. If a solicitation specifies that the bid shall contain samples and the bid does not contain samples, the bid shall be considered non-responsive.
38. (J) Items not suitable for intended use. If a bid does not offer items suitable for the intended use of the items, the bid shall be considered non-responsive.
39. (K) Pricing. If bid pricing does not meet requirements of a solicitation, the bid may be considered non-responsive.
40. (L) Bid fails to acknowledge solicitation amendment. If a bid fails to acknowledge a solicitation amendment the State Purchasing Director issues to a solicitation, the bid may be considered non-responsive.
41. (M) One bid from multiple suppliers. One bid from multiple suppliers that does not designate a prime contractor shall be considered non-responsive.
42. (N) Additional supplier terms and conditions. If a supplier adds terms and conditions to an acquisition that are contrary to the laws of Oklahoma the bid may be considered non-responsive.
43. (O) Signatures on solicitation documents. If an authorized signature is omitted from any solicitation document that requires an authorized signature, the bid may be considered non-responsive.
44. (2) Bidder not responsible.
45. (A) Failure to provide required information. If a bid does not include required information relating to responsibility, or the State Purchasing Director determines a bidder is not responsible, the bid may be rejected.
46. (B) Proof of insurance. Whenever applicable, if a bidder is unable to provide proof of workers' compensation insurance or an alternative or exemption as authorized by state law, the bidder may be found not responsible.
47. (C) Past performance. If the State Purchasing Director has received performance complaints on a supplier, the supplier may be found not responsible.
48. (p) Other factors in determination of bid responsiveness. A minor deficiency in a bid may be waived or cured if the acquiring agency determines the deficiency does not prejudice the rights of other bidders, if there is sufficient time prior to contract award in which to cure the deficiency or is not a cause for bid rejection. A minor deficiency does not affect the price, quantity, quality, delivery or conformance to specifications and is negligible in comparison to the total cost or scope of the acquisition. For illustrative purposes, examples are:
49. (1) failure to have an authorized signature;
50. (2) failure to obtain a notary signature, stamp or seal;
51. (3) failure to sign or initial solicitation amendments to bid.
52. (q) Negotiation process. Negotiations may be done after one or more potential awardees have been identified. Failure to reach an agreement during negotiation may result in a bid being considered non-responsive; in that case, the state will start negotiating with the next most qualified bidder.
53. (r) Terms. The following applies to the terms of a state contract:
54. (1) If an acquisition includes copyrights, patents or intellectual property rights pursuant to federal law, the solicitation shall request conditions of use for the acquisition. Except as otherwise provided by 70 O.S. § 3206.3 and 74 O.S. § 1365, any patented property or copyrighted material developed by contracts subject to the Central Purchasing Act, shall be the property of the State of Oklahoma under the sole management of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services.
55. (2) No alterations or variations of the terms of the contract shall be valid or binding upon the state, unless made in writing and accepted by the agency with authority to make the acquisition.
56. (3) A contract shall not contain a term obligating the state or a specific acquiring agency to :
57. (A) defend, indemnify or hold harmless another person or entity;
58. (B) be bound by terms and conditions unknown at the time of signing such contract, not specifically attached to the contact but only found included in embedded links or which may be unilaterally changed by the other party;
59. (C) any venue other than Oklahoma County, Oklahoma;
60. (D) construe the contract in accordance with any laws other than the law of the state of Oklahoma;
61. (E) binding arbitration;
62. (F) a person other than the state Attorney General to defend or represent the state;
63. (G) automatic renewal such that state funds would be obligated in a subsequent fiscal year;
64. (H) a default remedy assessed against the state including but not limited to liquidated damages; or
65. (I) payment or reimbursement of taxes;
66. (4) Any prohibited term included in a contract shall be void and the contract shall be otherwise enforceable as if it did not contain such term. Should the inclusion of any prohibited term result in amounts erroneously paid by the state, the supplier will immediately reimburse such amount upon request by the state.
67. (s) Time of award. The contract award shall not be made at the time of a bid opening but shall be made upon completion of the following:
68. (1) bid evaluation;
69. (2) documentation of evaluation on each bid;
70. (3) determination of the lowest and best or best value bidder;
71. (4) verification of Oklahoma and Federal debarment status;
72. (5) verification, pursuant to applicable provisions of law, that the supplier is registered with the Secretary of State and franchise tax payment status pursuant to 68 O.S. §1203 and §1204;
73. (6) coordination of award with the requisitioning state agency, if applicable; and
74. (7) completion of any award-related administrative tasks.
75. (t) Award by item. If the procurement documents do not specify an all or none bid, more than one bidder may be awarded a contract by item or groups of items.
76. (u) No contract award. A contract may not be awarded when:
77. (1) no bid meets the requirements of the solicitation.
78. (2) all bids exceed fair market value for the acquisition.
79. (3) the bid price exceeds available state agency funds.
80. (4) the state agency no longer requires the acquisition in the form or manner specified.
81. (5) not awarding the contract is determined to be in the best interest of the state.
82. (v) Evaluation tie. Whenever it is determined that two or more bids are equal, the successful bid shall be determined by a coin toss.
83. (w) Notification of successful bidder. The successful bidder shall be notified within a reasonable time after determination of the contract award.

Added at 31 Ok Reg 1526, eff 9-12-14

Amended at 38 Ok Reg 631, eff 1-20-21 (emergency)

Amended at 38 Ok Reg 1870, eff 9-11-21

Amended at 42 Ok Reg, Number 21, effective 10-1-25

Amended at 42 Ok Reg, Number 21, effective 10-1-25