Chapter 22 - IT Competitive Sealed Bidding / Invitation for Bid

22.9.2 Determining a responsible bidder

A bidder who is responsible and submits a responsive bid is one who clearly indicates compliance with the IFB without deviation from the IFB's terms and conditions and who possesses the experience, facilities, reputation and financial resources to perform the requirements of the IFB at the time of contract award. A responsible bidder is defined in the VPPA as a "a person who has the capability, in all respects, to perform fully the contract requirements and the moral and business integrity and reliability that will assure good faith performance, and who has been prequalified, if required." (See § 2.2-4301 of the Code of Virginia.) Agencies utilizing IFBs to purchase technology goods and services should use the following factors to determine whether a bidder is responsible:

• experience

• financial condition

• conduct and performance on previous contracts

• facilities

• management skills

• ability to execute the contract properly

• whether bidder has ever been disbarred by the federal government or Commonwealth.

• records of evaluation of performance as well as verifiable knowledge of agency business, contracting or audit personnel.

• determinations of violations of federal, state or local law or regulation.

• information supplied by the bidder, including bid or proposal information or financial data

• pre-award survey or information reports

• any other publicly available information

• Localities may include a determination of whether a bidder possesses the moral and business integrity and reliability that will assure good faith performance in order to determine bidders' responsibility

Failure of bidder to provide specifically requested relevant information may be grounds for a determination of non-responsiveness.