§1753.8. Contract construction procedures. — Inbound Citations

For the purpose of this part 1753:

(ii) If § 1753.8 requires RUS approval of award of the bid, the borrower shall submit to RUS two copies of the assembly unit sections of the apparent lowest responsive bid accepted by the borrower.

(v) If the borrower did not follow a fully competitive bidding process as described in § 1753.8, the selection, along with a summary of all proposals and an engineer's recommendation, shall be sent to RUS. RUS shall approve the proposal selection in writing or notify the borrower of any reason for withholding approval.

(e) The borrower shall conduct bid opening and award of contract in accordance with the procedure set forth in § 1753.8(a).

(a) Sealed competitive bidding of central office equipment shall be in two steps: presentation and evaluation of suppliers' technical proposals, and compliance with the sealed competitive bidding procedure set forth in § 1753.8(a). The procedure is as follows:

(i) After RUS approval of the specifications and equipment requirements (required only for projects expected to exceed $500,000 or 25% of the loan, whichever is less), the borrower shall send “Notice and Instructions to Bidders” to suppliers with central office equipment.

(ii) The “Notice” must set forth the method of evaluating bids and must require the submission of equipment lists and traffic calculations with the bids.

(iii) Equipment Contract, RUS Contract Form 395 (RUS Contract Form 395) shall be used, except that the “Notice” shall state that prior to the bid opening a technical session will be conducted with each supplier to resolve any questions related to the technical proposal submitted by the supplier. The suppliers' technical proposals should be requested for presentation 30 days in advance of the bid opening to enable sufficient time to make the technical evaluation.

(iv) The borrower shall solicit bids as set forth in § 1753.8(a)(2). The “Notice” shall be sent to at least three prospective bidders. A copy of the “Notice” and a list of such bidders shall be sent to RUS.

(v) At the request of an invited supplier, the borrower shall provide two copies of the P&S.

(i) The borrower shall schedule individual technical sessions by the suppliers, notify each supplier of its scheduled date and time, notify the GFR of all scheduled dates and times, and request the following be available at the technical session:

(F) Description of how office administration, maintenance and traffic collection are handled with step-by-step examples and printouts.

(G) This shall include discussions of software, processor memory, and hardware additions needed for line additions and the introduction of various future services; the relative costs of installing the necessary hardware and software initially as compared with the anticipated cost if installed at the time when the future services are to be offered.

(H) Description of how special equipment such as loop tests, volunteer fire alarm circuit, line load control, etc., will function.

(I) Description of method for translating initial office administration information into machine language, and proposal as to whether it will be done by the borrower or by the supplier.

(J) RUS Contract Form 395 indicates whether the equipment contains software and whether the software contract stipulations are applicable.

(K) Any other items pertinent to the technical proposal, such as information regarding changes that have been made in hardware and software of the equipment that is of like manufacture to that presently in operation in the borrower's system. This shall include requirements for additional spare parts or training which have developed as a result of significant change in system device technology.

(ii) The borrower shall review in detail all exceptions to the P&S. No exceptions will be accepted unless all bidders are notified, in writing, of the change in the specifications and permitted to incorporate the change in their proposal.

(iii) If the technical proposal is not responsive, the borrower shall notify the supplier, in writing, that its proposal will not be given further consideration and why.

(iv) Changes in the P&S resulting from the technical sessions shall be subject to RUS's review and approval.

(v) After evaluation of the technical proposals and RUS approval of the changes to P&S (required only for projects that are expected to exceed $500,000 or 25% of the loan, whichever is less), sealed bids shall be solicited from only those bidders whose technical proposals meet P&S requirements. When fewer than three bidders are adjudged qualified by the borrower to bid, RUS approval must be obtained to proceed. Generally, RUS will grant such approval only if the borrower can demonstrate to the satisfaction of RUS that a good faith effort was made to obtain at least three competitive bids. This would be demonstrated if all suppliers currently listed in I.P. 300-4 were invited to submit technical proposals.

(vi) The borrower shall invite the GFR to attend the technical sessions.

(i) All bids must be completed, dated, and signed prior to submission.

(ii) The bid opening and award of contract shall be conducted in accordance with the procedure set forth in § 1753.8(a).

(iii) The spare parts bid shall always be priced separately and added to the base bid when determining the low bidder.

(i) Bid openings and award of the contract shall be conducted in accordance with §§ 1753.5(b)(1) and 1753.8(a).

(3) The requirements and procedures for sealed competitive bidding are presented in § 1753.8(a). The requirements and procedures for negotiation are presented in § 1753.8(b).

(d) The borrower shall solicit bids as set forth in § 1753.8(a)(2). Invitations shall be sent to at least six prospective bidders.

(iv) The borrower shall solicit bids as set forth in § 1753.8(a)(2). The “Notice” shall be sent to at least three prospective bidders. A copy of the “Notice” and a list of such bidders shall be sent to RUS.

(2) The borrower shall solicit bids as set forth in § 1753.8(a)(2). Invitations shall be sent to at least 6 prospective bidders.

(i) See § 1753.8(a)(3). Questions relating to bidders' qualifications shall be resolved prior to the pre-bid conference.

(2) The procedures to be followed are contained in § 1753.8(b) and paragraphs (3) and (4) of this section.

(3) The requirements and procedures for sealed competitive bidding are presented in § 1753.8(a). The requirements and procedures for negotiation are presented in § 1753.8(b).