Child Care Administrator’s Improper Payments Information Technology Guide

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C. Developing and Evaluating a Request for Proposal (continued)

4. Best Value

The best-value concept has taken hold in many States as a better alternative than best price, particularly in the area of IT services. Unlike its antecedent best price, which means the lowest price at which a State can purchase goods or services, best value connotes a process for selecting the most advantageous solution by evaluating and comparing all relevant factors in addition to price.

Under this paradigm, a winning proposal may entail a higher price, but provide greater quality and benefits for the State. Best-value factors may include long-term project benefits, cost avoidance, increased productivity, maintenance and replacement costs, cost versus technical superiority tradeoffs, vendor support, and user satisfaction.

The following list describes several issues to consider when implementing a best-value approach:

• Evaluating best-value bids is more complicated than evaluating low-cost bids. Decision makers must make thoughtful decisions about the relative weight of different evaluation criteria. For example, what percentage of the overall evaluation will the State base on cost, corporate qualifications, the technical approach, and understanding the business/service need?
• States need to make sure the data used to evaluate factors are reliable. Unless States clearly and carefully articulate evaluation standards, it can be easy to make subjective judgments. For example, do the number of hours spent on a project and the tasks within that project provide a more accurate accounting of the level of effort than the number of individuals and whether they are working full-time or part-time.
• States need to communicate the relevant factors that make up the evaluation criteria for a best-value bid to the vendor.
• The review team needs to be scrupulous in its use and documentation of rating factors. Inconsistent rating factors could lead to poor procurement choices and potential legal challenges that drive up cost and move projects off schedule.