If bids are scheduled to be received during a period of suspended State business operations, schedule the receipt and opening for the same time on the next regular business day. All sealed bids received by the procuring agency in response to an IFB must be held unopened in a secure area until the specified date and time for opening. All sealed bids shall be publicly opened at the date, time and location specified in the IFB. Facsimile bids shall not be considered unless permitted by the IFB. The bidder is responsible for arranging the third party involvement and for faxing the complete bid to the third party, not just a summary or the cover sheet. The agency may request the original bid be provided. If the original bid is requested, it must be received within five (5) business days of the request. No employee or agent of an agency should accept a facsimile bid on the bidder’s behalf and offer to place the bid in a sealed envelope. The SPOC assigned for the procurement shall only read the following information from each bid aloud:
Other questions or bid concerns should not be answered until the evaluation phase is complete and the award decision has been made.