Arkansas Administrative Code

19 CAR § 1-211. Mandatory state contracts. (a)(1) Unless an exemption is approved by the State Procurement Director in writing, a state agency that requires commodities or services that are under a mandatory state contract shall procure these commodities and services exclusively …

19 CAR § 1-301. Procurement agencies. (a) Designation. Each state agency authorized by Arkansas Code § 19-11-220 to elect to have an agency procurement official shall submit a letter signed by the administrative head of the state agency to the State Procurement Director designati…

19 CAR § 1-302. Interest, carrying charges, and termination fees — Limitations. (a) Contracts may be entered into which contemplate the payment of interest or carrying charges only in the following conditions: (1) When the interest or carrying charge is required because the term …

19 CAR § 1-303. Solicitation conferences. A solicitation conference may be held by an agency to provide the following information, without limitation, to prospective bidders: (1) Names and contact information of state personnel who will serve as points of contact to bidders durin…

19 CAR § 1-304. Mandatory solicitation conferences. (a) Agencies may make attendance at a solicitation conference mandatory by obtaining approval from the State Procurement Director or the head of the procurement agency. (b) In seeking such approval, the agency shall: (1)(A) Issu…

19 CAR § 1-305. Limitations of solicitation conferences. Nothing discussed during a solicitation conference will augment or change the specifications or terms and conditions of a solicitation, nor shall anything discussed during a solicitation conference be deemed to be binding o…

19 CAR § 1-401. Nonresponsibility. (a)(1) Determination of responsibility is made prior to the award of a contract. (2) A nonresponsible bidder or offeror is one (1) who has been determined through evaluation of bid/offer to lack the capability, integrity, and/or reliability to f…

19 CAR § 1-402. Bonds. (a) General. Bidders shall submit bid bonds or performance bonds or similar assurances when required by the terms and conditions of the invitation for bids, solicitation or request for proposals, as obligee with surety satisfactory to the procurement agency…

19 CAR § 1-403. Submission of contracts with members of the General Assembly. (a) All contracts or amendments to contracts with a member of the General Assembly, his or her spouse, or with any business in which such a person or his or her spouse is an officer, a director, or a st…

19 CAR § 1-404. Reporting of vendor performance. (a) Contracts with a total projected contract amount, including any amendments and possible extensions, of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) or more shall require the submission of a vendor performance report at least one (1) …

19 CAR § 1-405. Experience requirement. Prior to the release of a bid solicitation, if the agency justifies in writing that the combined experience of the key personnel would be insufficient to adequately satisfy the requirements of the bid solicitation, the agency must include i…

19 CAR § 1-501. Initial term. (a) A contract may be entered into for up to a maximum period of a total of seven (7) years. (b) It may be advantageous for agencies to have a contract expire annually unless renewed, however, they may opt to make the initial term of a contract exten…

19 CAR § 1-502. Prohibition from public entities contracting with companies that boycott Israel. (a) The contractor must certify that the contractor is not currently engaged in, and agrees that for the aggregate term of the contract will not engage in, a boycott of Israel. The in…

19 CAR § 1-503. Issuance of restrictive specifications generally. A specification may be drafted which describes a product which is proprietary to one (1) manufacturer only where there is a requirement for specifying a particular design or make of product due to factors of compat…

19 CAR § 1-504. Issuance of qualified products list specifications — Qualified products list. (a) Restrictions on use. A specification for commodities may include a qualified products list only when the State Procurement Director has approved in writing the written determination …

19 CAR § 1-505. Multiple award contracts. No multiple award contracts can be awarded unless the invitation for bids or request for proposals included notification of the right to make multiple awards.

19 CAR § 1-506. Special procurement reporting. (a) Agencies are required to report special procurements to the Office of State Procurement. (b) The reports shall include a copy of the written determination of the basis for the procurement and for the selection of a particular con…

19 CAR § 1-507. Use of performance-based standards in contracts. (a) The purpose of performance-based standards is to allow the agency to effectively measure the level of performance provided by the contractor at various stages of the contract. (b) It is recommended that all serv…

19 CAR § 1-508. Proprietary or sole source procurements — Generally. (a)(1) General. Sole source procurements of commodities and technical services are those procurements which, by virtue of the performance specification, are available from a single source. (2) Brand name prefere…

19 CAR § 1-509. Request for qualifications procurement method generally. (a)(1) The request for qualifications (RFQ) procurement method is used, with prior written approval from the State Procurement Director, when price competition is irrelevant and/or the qualifications or spec…

19 CAR § 1-510. Competitive sealed bidding — Definition. Invitations for bids for which the Office of State Procurement is responsible will be posted on the office website, www.arkansas.gov/dfa/procurement, in adequate time to allow response.

19 CAR § 1-511. Conditions for use. (a) Lease. (1) All contracts for the lease of a commodity which exceed a cost of seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) during the initial period of the contract shall be awarded on the basis of competitive sealed bids. (2) All contracts for t…

19 CAR § 1-512. Commodities and services. Commodities and services which are not practicable to procure by competitive sealed bidding: (1) Postage meter leases; (2)(A) Motor vehicle rentals, for thirty (30) days or less, may be procured by use of competitive bid procedures. (B) A…

19 CAR § 1-513. Leases. Lease of commodities on state contract. No contract greater than ninety (90) days for the lease of commodities on state contract shall be approved unless the State Procurement Director determines in writing that it is in the best interest of the state and …

19 CAR § 1-514. Bid submission. (a)(1) Bidders shall submit bids at the place and on or before the date and time set in the invitation for bids. (2) Bids received after the date and time designated for bid opening are late bids and shall not be considered. (b)(1) All bids and any…

19 CAR § 1-515. Solicitation conferences. (a) A solicitation conference may be held by the State Procurement Director or agency procurement official or a designee to provide information to prospective bidders. (b) Nothing discussed during a solicitation conference will change the…

19 CAR § 1-516. Bid opening. (a) When practical, the names of the bidders and amounts of their bids may be read aloud. (b) Except where it may be deemed impractical, due to the nature or complexity of an invitation for bids, an abstract of bids which contains the amount of each b…

19 CAR § 1-517. Bid evaluation. (a)(1) Those criteria that will affect the bid price and be considered in evaluation for award shall be stated in the bid and objectively measured, such as transportation costs and total or life cycle cost. (2) Judgmental evaluation of commodities …

19 CAR § 1-518. Rejection. Grounds for rejection of bids include but are not limited to: (1) Failure of a bid to conform to the mandatory requirements of an invitation for bids; (2) Any bid which does not conform to the specifications contained or referenced in any invitation for…

19 CAR § 1-519. Correction or withdrawal. (a) Correction or withdrawal of bids. (1) The State Procurement Director or agency procurement official may waive technicalities (small details) or minor irregularities (something irregular in form or nature) in bids which do not affect t…

19 CAR § 1-520. Award — Negotiation. (a) Award. (1) After a reasonable bid evaluation period, the bid shall be awarded to the responsive and responsible bidder who has submitted the lowest bid that meets the requirements and criteria set forth in the invitation for bids. (2) All …

19 CAR § 1-521. Cancellation of invitations for bids. (a) When an invitation for bids is cancelled, notice of cancellation of Office of State Procurement bids will be posted on the office website www.arkansas.gov/dfa/procurement. (b) The bids may be returned if the bid is properl…

19 CAR § 1-522. Negotiations. (a)(1) Negotiation of competitive sealed bids should be used only in those cases where the best interests of the state are served, such as where the lowest bid submitted by a responsive and responsible bidder: (A) Exceeds the available funding to pay…

19 CAR § 1-523. Competitive sealed proposals — Generally. Request for proposals for which the Office of State Procurement is responsible will be posted on the office website in adequate time to allow response.

19 CAR § 1-524. Conditions of use — 30% weighted cost waiver. (a) Conditions of use. (1) The key element in determining the necessity for utilization of the competitive sealed proposal method is the type of evaluation required. (2) Where evaluation involves the relative abilities…

19 CAR § 1-525. Proposal submission. (a)(1) Offerors shall submit proposals at the place and on or before the date and time set in the request for proposals. (2) Proposals received after the date and time designated for the proposal opening are considered late and shall not be co…

19 CAR § 1-526. Request for proposals opening. (a) The names of the offerors may be read aloud. (b) An abstract of proposals listing the names of offerors shall be prepared by the entity responsible for the RFP and shall be retained in the request for proposals file and shall be …

19 CAR § 1-527. Evaluation — Responsibility of offeror — Tie bids — Private evaluators. (a) Evaluation. (1) The evaluation shall be based on the evaluation factors set forth in the request for proposals. (2) All members of evaluation committees shall participate in evaluation com…

19 CAR § 1-528. Rejection of proposals. Grounds for rejection of proposals include but shall not be limited to: (1) Failure of a proposal to conform to the essential requirements of a request for proposals; (2) A proposal imposing conditions which would modify the stated terms an…

19 CAR § 1-529. Correction or withdrawal of proposals. (a)(1) There is a strong public interest in favor of conserving public funds in awarding public contracts, and little, if any, public benefit in disqualifying proposals for technical deficiencies in form or minor irregulariti…

19 CAR § 1-530. Discussions. (a) Discussions generally. (1) During a request for proposals procurement, the Arkansas Procurement Law, Arkansas Code § 19-11-201 et seq., allows for discussions with responsible offerors whose proposals have been determined to be reasonably suscepti…

19 CAR § 1-531. Cancellation of the request for proposals. (a) A notice of cancellation of an Office of State Procurement request for proposals shall be posted on the office website. (b) The proposals may be returned if properly identified.

19 CAR § 1-532. Competitive bidding – Conditions for use. (a) Purchase of commodities subject to the Arkansas Constitution, Amendment 54. The commodities subject to Arkansas Constitution, Amendment 54 are printing, stationery, and supplies (see also Arkansas Code § 19-11-222(b)).…

19 CAR § 1-533. Leases. (a) Lease of commodities on state contract. No contract greater than ninety (90) days for the lease of commodities on state contract will be approved unless the State Procurement Director determines in writing that it is in the best interest of the state a…

19 CAR § 1-534. Cancellation. (a) Bids may be cancelled by the State Procurement Director, agency procurement official, or procurement agent prior to contract award. (b) Notice of cancellation shall be given to all bidders who have submitted bids (posted on the Office of State Pr…

19 CAR § 1-535. Rejection. Grounds for rejection of bids include but shall not be limited to: (1) Failure of a bid to conform to the essential requirements of an invitation forbids; (2) Any bid which does not conform to the specifications contained or referenced in any invitation…

19 CAR § 1-536. Tie bids. (a) Definitions. As used in this section: (1) “Arkansas company” means a domestic corporation, limited liability company, partnership, or not-for-profit organization as defined by Arkansas law; and (2) “Out-of-state company” means all foreign entities as…

19 CAR § 1-537. Emergency procurements — Generally. (a) Approval. (1) All noncritical emergency procurements must be approved in advance by the State Procurement Director, the head of a procurement agency, or a designee of either officer. (2) Where time or circumstance does not p…

19 CAR § 1-538. Small procurements – Conditions for use. (a)(1) Lease. All state agencies may lease commodities with the exclusion of vehicles (see Arkansas Code § 22-8-102) where the cost does not exceed twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) during the initial period of the contract…

19 CAR § 1-601. Definitions concerning commodity management. (a) "Tax supported institutions" means institutions that derive at least fifty percent (50%) of their revenue by appropriation from a taxing jurisdiction. (b) "Cannibalization" means the process whereby a nonexpendable …