R850-11-300. Professional or Legal Services

  1. The agency may from time to time request providers of professional or legal services to submit a statement of qualifications containing information that the agency deems relevant to the provider's ability to provide quality services and the provider's hourly rates. At least once annually, the agency will advertise statewide its intent to accept statements of qualifications, and will maintain a list of qualified providers with approved rates.

  2. The purpose of prequalification is to provide the agency with basic information regarding providers for the agency's convenience. The agency is not required to solicit each or any prequalified provider for a particular service when it undertakes a procurement.

  3. When the procurement of professional or legal services is estimated to cost less than $50,000, the agency may select the provider directly from either the list of providers who have submitted annual statements of qualifications, or from other qualified providers if necessary.

  4. When the procurement is estimated to exceed $50,000, a written request for proposal (RFP) shall be prepared which describes the agency's requirements and sets forth the evaluation criteria for the procurement. Consideration shall be given to publishing the RFP in a newspaper of general circulation or otherwise advertising the RFP to elicit additional responses from potential providers. The agency shall select the provider offering, as determined in the discretion of the director, the best combination of price, expertise, and other relevant factors. The director shall make a written determination, supported by the following reasons, that the selected provider is best qualified to provide the particular services being procured by the agency:

  (a) competence to perform the services as reflected by technical training and education, general experience, experience in providing the required services and the qualifications and competence of persons who would be assigned to perform the services;

  (b) ability to perform the services as reflected by workload and the availability of adequate personnel, equipment, and facilities to perform the services expeditiously;

  (c) past performance as reflected by the services of the firm with respect to factors such as responsiveness, control of costs, quality of work, and an ability to meet deadlines; and

  (d) a determination that the provider's fees are reasonable.

  5. The agency may in its discretion issue contracts for professional or legal services by competitive bid pursuant to R850-11-400 or R850-11-500 instead of utilizing the procedures in this section.