Section R7-2-1117. Procurement of Specified Professional Services

A.      Specified professional services,  which is defined in R7-2- 1001(117), as services of an architect, engineer, land surveyor, assayer, geologist and landscape architect, shall be procured as provided in R7-2-1117 through R7-2-1123, except as autho- rized in R7-2-1033, R7-2-1053, R7-2-1055, and R7-2-1122.

B.       Prior to public notice of the need for specified professional services, the school district shall determine that the services to be acquired are specified professional services.

C.      In the procurement of specified professional services:

1.        The school district shall specify whether the procurement is for a single contract or for multiple contracts. Multiple contracts may be awarded to separate persons or may be awarded to a single person as specified in the request for qualifications.

2.        The school district and the selection committee shall not request or consider fees, price, man-hours or any other cost information at any point in the selection process under this Section and R7-2-1120 or R7-2-1121, includ- ing the selection of persons to be interviewed, the selec- tion of persons to be on the final list, in determining the order of preference of persons on a final list or for any other purpose in the selection process except as provided in R7-2-1121.

3.        In determining the persons to participate in any inter- views, in determining the persons to be on the final list, and in determining the order on the final list, the selection committee shall use and consider only the criteria and weighting of criteria in the request for qualifications. No other factors or criteria may be used in the evaluation, determinations and other actions.

4.        If the school district enters into the number of contracts specified in the request for qualifications, the procure- ment ends. After that time the school district may not use the procurement or any final list in the procurement as the basis for entering into a contract with any other person that participated in the procurement.

5.        Notwithstanding any other provision specifying the num- ber of persons to be interviewed, the number of persons to be on a final list, or any other numerical specification in this Section or R7-2-1121:

a.         If a smaller number of persons respond to the request for qualifications or if one or more persons drop out of the procurement so that there is a smaller number of persons participating in the procurement, the school district, as the school district determines necessary and appropriate, may elect to  proceed with the participating persons if there are at least two participating responsive and responsible persons. Alternatively, the school district may elect to termi- nate the procurement.

b.        As to a request for qualifications to be negotiated pursuant to R7-2-1121(D), if only one responsive and responsible person responds to the request for qualifications, or if one or more persons drop out of the procurement so that only one responsive and responsible person remains in the procurement, the school district may elect to proceed with the pro- curement with only one person if the governing board determines in writing that the negotiated fee is fair and reasonable and that either other prospective persons had reasonable opportunity to respond or there is not adequate time for a resolicitation.

c.         If a person on the final list withdraws or is removed from the procurement and the selection committee

determines that it is advantageous to the school dis- trict, the selection committee may replace that per- son on the final list with another person that submitted qualifications in the procurement and that is selected as the next most qualified.

D.      The request for qualifications shall:

1.        Provide instructions and information to persons concern- ing the statement of qualifications submission require- ments, including the due date and time for receipt of statements of qualifications, the address of the office at which the statements of qualifications are to be received, and any other special information.

2.        State whether one contract or multiple contracts may or will be awarded.

a.         If one contract will be awarded, state that one con- tract may or will be awarded, describe the services to be performed under the contract and state that one person may or will be awarded the contract.

b.        If multiple contracts may or will be awarded, state the number of contracts that may or will be awarded, the services to be performed under each of the multi- ple contracts, and either that each contract will be awarded to a separate person or that all of the con- tracts will be awarded to the same person.

3.        State the number of persons to be included on the final list.

a.         If a single contract will be awarded, state that there will be a single final list of at least three and not more than five persons.

b.        If multiple contracts will be awarded to a single per- son, state that there will be a single final list of at least three and not more than five persons.

c.         If multiple contracts for similar specified profes- sional services will be awarded to separate persons, state that there will be a single final list equal to the number of contracts that may or will be awarded and a number determined by the school district not to exceed five.

d.        If multiple contracts for different specified profes- sional services will be awarded to separate persons, state that there will be a separate final list for each type of specified professional services and that the number of persons on each final list will be equal to the number of contracts that may or will be awarded for each type of specified professional services and a number determined by the school district not to exceed five.

4.        State the selection criteria and relative weight to be used. All selection criteria shall be factors that demonstrate competence and qualifications for the type of specified professional services included in the procurement.

a.         If interviews will be held, state the selection criteria and relative weights to be used in selecting the per- sons to be interviewed. The request for qualifica- tions may state the selection criteria and relative weights to be used in selecting the persons on the final list and in determining their order on the final list. The final list selection criteria and relative weights may be different than the selection criteria and relative weights used to determine the persons to be interviewed. The request for qualifications also shall state whether the school district will select the persons on the final list and their order on the final list solely through the results of the interview pro- cess or through the combined results of both the interview process and the evaluation of statements

of qualifications and performance data submitted in response to the request for qualifications.

b.        If interviews will not be held, state the selection cri- teria and relative weights to be used in selecting the persons on the final list and in determining their order on the final list.

5.        State whether interviews will be held.

a.         If a single contract will be awarded, state that there will be interviews with at least three and not more than five persons.

b.        If multiple contracts will be awarded to a single per- son, state that there will be interviews with at least three and not more than five persons.

c.         If multiple contracts for similar specified profes- sional services will be awarded to separate persons, state that there will be interviews with a number of persons equal to the number of contracts that may or will be awarded and a number determined by the school district not to exceed five.

d.        If multiple contracts for different specified profes- sional services will be awarded to separate persons, state that interviews will be held and that the inter- views will be with a specified number of persons. The specified number shall be stated in the request for qualifications, shall be determined by the school district, shall be at least three times the number of contracts that may or will be awarded and shall not be more than five times the number of contracts that may or will be awarded.

6.        The name of the district representative or district repre- sentatives and the publicly available location of the school district's protest policy or procedure.

7.        Notice that all information and statements of qualifica- tions submitted by persons will be made available for public inspection after the school district has entered into a single contract or all of the multiple contracts.

E.       Statements of qualifications shall be received and opened in accordance with R7-2-1045. Late statements of qualifications, late modifications, or late withdrawals shall be considered in accordance with R7-2-1044 and R7-2-1049.

F.       A copy of the request for qualifications shall be made avail- able for public inspection at the school district office.

Historical Note

Adopted effective December 17, 1987 (Supp. 87-4). Amended by final exempt rulemaking at 21 A.A.R. 1525, effective July 1, 2015 (Supp. 15-3).