Procurement Guidelines - New York State Office of General Services

• Scripted interview questions;• Scripted reference checks; and• Oral/product presentation/agenda.Evaluating Technical ProposalsAs a preliminary step, proposals should be reviewed for compliance with the minimummandatory technical requirements set forth in the RFP. After the preliminary review, thetechnical proposal evaluation must be conducted as documented in the RFP and the evaluationinstrument. The evaluation team members apply scores to the pre-determined criteria and subcriteriaif applicable. Scoring is based on information provided in the submitted proposal.However, additional factors, as established in the RFP and/or the evaluation instrument, may beconsidered. Examples include:• Product or service demonstrations and presentations;• Reference checks (staff and/or company performance);• Vendor site inspections;• Interviews of key proposed managers and technical experts;• Written proposal clarifications; and• Rating services (such as Moody’s or Dun & Bradstreet)The above factors may be used for non-scored validation purposes, as cumulativeinformation to be considered together with submitted information, or as separately scoredcriteria. For example:• A reference check might be used to verify submitted information (e.g., theproposer has in fact successfully completed three jobs of similar size/scope). Areference check might also be used as a separately scored criterion (e.g., theaverage satisfaction rating from three references is 7 on a scale of 0 – 10).• Presentations and interviews might be used as cumulative information along withsubmitted documentation for scoring a criterion (e.g., experience, work plan). Apresentation might also be used as a separately scored criterion.The agency has the authority to waive mandatory requirements that are not materialprovided that:• The RFP discloses to the offerers the agency’s reserved right;• The mandatory requirements are not met by all offerers;• The waiver does not disadvantage the state;• The waiver does not benefit the proposed contractor; and• The waiver does not prejudice any non-winning bidder or potential bidder.New York State Procurement Guidelines 33