On July 27, the regulations governing the City of Philadelphia’s purchase of goods and non-professional services under the “best value” standard became official.
Under the regulations, the Procurement Commissioner can permit a contract to be awarded under the “best value” standard only after a City department has made a detailed recommendation to the Commissioner. The regulations also cover issues such as the technical scoring criteria, makeup of the selection committee, and the evaluation and scoring of bidder proposals. For example, price must receive at least 30% of the total score and non-price attributes must receive at least 50% of the total score.
The scoring of non-price attributes will be based on some or all of the following criteria:
- qualities of the goods or services proposed
- technical, administrative and financial experience and capacity
- management plan and proposed schedule
- experience providing similar products and services
- experience and capacity of identified staff and subcontractors;
- diversity and inclusion plan
- past performance on City and other contracts
- history and plan for work safety
- benefits to the City of supporting growth of new or small businesses, including those owned by minority or disabled persons or women
- anticipated job creation, particularly in low and moderate-income neighborhoods in Philadelphia;
- certification as a Local Business Entity;
- additional economic, environmental, and social benefits of the proposed Goods or Services that support the City Department’s objectives, and may include the flexibility to adapt to possible changes over the life-cycle
If best value contracting is approved by the Commissioner, a selection committee must be formed “composed of diverse persons having familiarity with the required Goods and Services and appropriate technical, financial or other expertise for addressing cost and the qualitative factors of the proposals” and also including employees of the Procurement Department and the Office of Economic Opportunity.
The new regulations can be found here.
If you need assistance with contracting with the City, feel free to call or email me for a no-cost consultation. I’ll be happy to assist in anyway possible.
Christopher I. McCabe, Esq.
