General Procurement Provisions Sample Clauses

General Procurement Provisions. The standards and procedures for procurement are intended to ensure that supplies, equipment, construction and other services acquired in whole or in part with Federal funds are: a) Obtained as efficiently and economically as possible. b) Procured in a manner that provides, to the maximum extent practical, open and free competition. Solicitations must clearly explain all requirements that the bidder/offeror must fulfill in order for his or her bid/offer to be evaluated by the subrecipient. Solicitations for goods and services must be based on a clear and accurate description of the material, product, or service to be procured, and cannot contain features which unduly restrict competition. Some of the situations considered to be restrictive of competition include, but are not limited to: • Placing unreasonable qualifying requirements on firms. • Requiring unnecessary experience and excessive bonding. • Specifying only “brand name” products instead of allowing “an equal” product. • Noncompetitive pricing practices between firms or affiliated companies. • Noncompetitive awards to consultants on retainer contracts. Awards are to be made to the bidder/offeror whose bid/offer is responsive to the solicitation and is most advantageous to the subrecipient, price and other factors considered. Any and all bids may be rejected when it is in the subrecipient’s interest to do so. The subrecipient must ensure that the award is only made to responsible contractors possessing the ability to perform successfully under the terms and conditions of the proposed procurement. Consideration should be given to such matters as contractor integrity, compliance with public policy, record of past performance, and financial and technical resources. The Federal guidelines for contracting are designed to further ensure that contracts are structured and managed in a way that is consistent with good administrative practices and sound business judgment. The Federal requirements for these administrative areas are found in 24 CFR 85.36 for governmental subrecipients and in 24 CFR 84.40-48 for subrecipients that are non-profit organizations. Because the procurement standards in 24 CFR Part 85 are generally more specific than those found in Part 84, the former will be used as the principal basis for this chapter’s presentation of applicable requirements. Whenever there is a clear distinction The general requirements for procurement include the following: • According to 24 CFR 85.36(b)(9), a su...