Common use of Procurement by competitive proposals Clause in Contracts

Procurement by competitive proposals. The technique of competitive proposals is normally conducted with more than one source submitting an offer, resulting in the award of either a fixed-price or cost-reimbursement type contract. It is generally used when conditions are not appropriate for the use of sealed bids, micro or small purchase procedures. There are two types of competitive proposals; requests for proposals (RFP’s), or Requests for Qualifications (RFQ’s). If this procurement method is used, the following requirements apply: (i) Requests for proposals (RFP’s), or Requests for Qualifications (RFQ’s), will be publicized and identify all evaluation factors and their relative importance. Any response to publicized requests for proposals shall be honored to the maximum extent practical; (ii) Proposals will be solicited from an adequate number of qualified sources; (iii) Awards will be made to the responsible firm whose proposal is most advantageous to the non-Federal entity with price, qualifications and other factors considered (see Section 8 (c) for other factors); and