§ 143-135.9. Best Value procurements. - North Carolina Statutes

§ 143‑135.9.  Best Valueprocurements.

(a)        Definitions. – Thefollowing definitions apply in this section:

(1)        Best Valueprocurement. – The selection of a contractor based on a determination of whichproposal offers the best trade‑off between price and performance, wherequality is considered an integral performance factor. The award decision ismade based on multiple factors, including: total cost of ownership, meaning thecost of acquiring, operating, maintaining, and supporting a product or serviceover its projected lifetime; the evaluated technical merit of the vendor'sproposal; the vendor's past performance; and the evaluated probability ofperforming the requirements stated in the solicitation on time, with highquality, and in a manner that accomplishes the stated business objectives andmaintains industry standards compliance.

(2)        Government‑Vendorpartnership. – A mutually beneficial contractual relationship between Stategovernment and a contractor, wherein the two share risk and reward, and valueis added to the procurement of needed goods or services.

(3)        Informationtechnology. – Electronic data processing and telecommunications goods andservices, microelectronics, software, information processing, office systems,any services related to the foregoing, and consulting or other services fordesign and/or redesign of business processes.

(4)        Solution‑Basedsolicitation. – A solicitation in which the requirements are stated in terms ofhow the product or service being purchased should accomplish the businessobjectives, rather than in terms of the technical design of the product orservice.

(b)        Intent. – Theintent of Best Value procurement is to enable contractors to offer and theagency to select the most appropriate solution to meet the business objectivesdefined in the solicitation and to keep all parties focused on the desiredoutcome of a procurement.

(c)        InformationTechnology. – The acquisition of information technology by the State of NorthCarolina shall be conducted using the Best Value procurement method. Forpurposes of this section, business process reengineering, system design, andtechnology implementation may be combined into a single solicitation. Foracquisitions which the procuring agency and the Division of Purchase andContracts or the Office of Information Technology Services, as applicable, deemto be highly complex or determine that the optimal solution to the businessproblem at hand is not known, the use of Solution‑Based Solicitation andGovernment‑Vendor Partnership is authorized and encouraged. Any county,city, town, or subdivision of the State may acquire information technologypursuant to this section.

(d)        Repealed by SessionLaws 2009‑320, s. 1, effective July 24, 2009.

(e)        North CarolinaZoological Park. – The acquisition of goods and services under a contractentered pursuant to the exemption of G.S. 143‑129.8A(a) by the Departmentof Environment and Natural Resources on behalf of the North Carolina ZoologicalPark may be conducted using the Best Value procurement method. For acquisitionswhich the procuring agency deems to be highly complex, the use of Government‑Vendorpartnership is authorized.  (1998‑189, s. 1; 1999‑434, s. 15; 1999‑456,s. 39; 2009‑329, s. 1.2.)