(a) For the purposes of bid evaluation and selection pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 20651, when a community college district determines that it can expect long-term savings through the use of life-cycle cost methodology, the use of more sustainable goods and materials, and reduced administrative costs, the community college district may provide for the selection of the lowest responsible bidder on the basis of best value pursuant to policies and procedures adopted by the governing board in accordance with this section.
(b) For purposes of this section, “best value” means the most advantageous balance of price, quality, service, performance, and other elements, as defined by the governing board, achieved through methods in accordance with this section and determined by objective performance criteria that may include price, features, long-term functionality, life-cycle costs, overall sustainability, and required services.
(c) A community college district shall consider all of the following when adopting best value policies pursuant to subdivision (a):
(1) Price and service level proposals that reduce the district’s overall operating costs, including end-of-life expenditures and impact.
(2) Equipment, services, supplies, and materials standards that support the community college district’s strategic acquisition and management program direction.
(3) A procedure for protest and resolution.
(d) A community college district may consider any of the following factors if adopting policies and procedures pursuant to subdivision (c):
(1) The total cost to the community college district of its purchase, use, and consumption of equipment, supplies, and materials.
(2) The operational cost or benefit incurred by the community college district as a result of a contract award.
(3) The added value to the community college district, as defined in the request for proposal, of vendor-added services.
(4) The quality and effectiveness of equipment, supplies, materials, and services.
(5) The reliability of delivery and installation schedules.
(6) The terms and conditions of product warranties and vendor guarantees.
(7) The financial stability of the vendor.
(8) The vendor’s quality assurance program.
(9) The vendor’s experience with the provisions of equipment, supplies, materials, and services within the institutional marketplace.
(10) The consistency of the vendor’s proposed equipment, supplies, materials, and services with the district’s overall supplies and materials procurement program.
(11) The economic benefits to the local community, including, but not limited to, job creation and retention.
(12) The environmental benefits to the local community.
(e) A community college district awarding a contract under this section shall award a contract to the lowest responsible bidder whose proposal is determined, in writing by the community college district, to be the best value to the community college district based solely on the criteria set forth in the request for proposal.
(f) The governing board of a community college district shall issue a written notice of intent to award supporting its contract award and stating in detail the basis of the award. The notice of the intent to award and the contract file must be sufficient to satisfy an external audit.
(g) The governing board of a community college district shall publicly announce its award, identifying the bidder to which the award is made, the price proposal of the contractor awarded the contract, and the overall combined rating on the request for proposal evaluation factors. The announcement shall also include the ranking of the contractor awarded the contract in relation to all other responsive bidders and their respective price proposals and summary of the rationale for the contract award.
(h) The community college district shall ensure that all businesses have a fair and equitable opportunity to compete for, and participate in, district contracts and shall also ensure that discrimination, as described in subdivision (e) of Section 12751.3 of the Public Utilities Code, in the award and performance of contracts does not occur.
(i) (1) If a community college district elects to purchase equipment, materials, supplies, and services by contract, let in accordance with this section, the community college district shall submit the following information to the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges on or before January 1, 2016:
(A) The community college district’s policies adopted pursuant to subdivision (a).
(B) An annual list of district procurements for contracts with a brief description of the contract, the winning bid, the cost, and if the contract was done under best value acquisition policies.
(C) For a contract awarded under the best value acquisition policies, the bid announcement announcing the bidder to which the award was made, including that bidder’s scoring rating compared to other bidders, the winning contractor’s price proposal, the overall combined rating on the request for proposal evaluation factors, a description of the products, commodities, or services sought, and a summary of the rationale for the contract award.
(D) For each contract awarded using the best value acquisition policies at least one bid award announcement for a comparably priced contract using the traditional lowest responsible bidder process that specifies the bidder to which the contract was awarded, the amount of the award, and the request for bid for that contract that includes a description of the products, commodities, or services sought for at least one comparably sized contract, to the best value contract being let, awarded pursuant to the traditional lowest responsible bidder process including contracts awarded by the district in the three years prior to the adoption of best value acquisition policies by the district.
(E) For contracts awarded using best value, a summary of any additional economic benefit other than the price of the contract obtained, including an explanation of whether these benefits were realized as expected.
(F) The total number of bid protests or protests concerning an aspect of the solicitation, bid, or award of the agreement since the district adopted policies pursuant to subdivision (a) and the number of those protests that occurred under best value.
(G) A description of any written bid protest or protests concerning an aspect of the solicitation, bid, or award of the agreement including the resolution of the protest for any contract submitted pursuant to this section.
(2) The Legislative Analyst shall request the chancellor to provide the information specified in paragraph (1) to the Legislative Analyst on or before July 1, 2016. On or before February 1, 2018, the Legislative Analyst shall report to the Legislature on the use of competitive means for obtaining best value procurement by community college districts. The Legislative Analyst shall use the information provided by the chancellor to report all of the following:
(A) A summary of the overall benefits of best value acquisition.
(B) A comparison of the overall cost of contracts let under best value acquisition pursuant to this section to similar contracts let under traditional low bid procurement practices.
(C) An assessment of any benefits or disadvantages of best value procurement practices as compared to bids awarded to the lowest responsible bidder.
(D) An assessment of whether the use of best value procurement has led to a difference in the number of disputes as compared to contracts awarded using the traditional lowest responsible bidder method.
(E) An assessment of the policies adopted by the community college districts pursuant to subdivision (a) as well as an assessment of the overall performance criteria used to evaluate the bids and the effectiveness of the methodology.
(F) Recommendations as to whether the best value at lowest cost acquisition procurement authority should be continued.
(j) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2019, and as of that date is repealed.
(Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 319, Sec. 6. (AB 1624) Effective September 13, 2016. Repealed as of January 1, 2019, by its own provisions.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018