Demolition/Abatement Constracts (Folders 1-2)

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Chapter 4: Methods of Selection hrip:i/ww~~.fta.dot.gov/fta/library/adminiBPPman~sect 40.htm overview of the specifications or scope of work. If you have received questions in advance, you can provide both the questions and answers. At the conclusion of the conference, determine which questions have been raised that will necessitate the issuance of a solicitation amendment. You may have received oiher questions during this period of time that highlighted the need for an amendment, or an issue might have been raised by internal reviews that necessitated an amendment. Regardless oFthe source, if an amendment is necessary, there is no shame is its issuance.38 It is recommended that you do not leave material questions unanswered - if you don't answer them, you rnay end up shifting the risk for that ambiguity, conflict or other problem from the contractor back to your agency. As soon as possible after the conference, finalize the record of the conference and promptly furnish it to all prospective offerors (those on your final solicitation mailing list); whether they were in attendance at the meeting or not. It is important that all prospective offerors be furnished the same information concerning the proposed acquisition. This can be furnished with the amendment if one is to be issued. Although it is not normally part of a pre-bid or pre-proposal conference, if you want to offer prospective offerors an opportunity to actually visit the site (in an appropriate procurement) it is a good time to do this in conjunction with this conferenee. You should be sensitive to the cost offerors incur in preparing a bid or proposal and try to allow them to accomplish multiple tasks on the same trip, particularly for those entities that are traveling to your location from another city, state or country. 4.3.2.5 Amendment of Solicitations DISCUSSION Frequentty, in the course of the soiicitation process and prior to recei~t of oflers, you will find something within the solicitation package that needs to be corrected. This is something that can be done easily and may enhance competition if the changes are significant (i.e., impact quantity, specifications, or delivery). Each recipient of the solicitation should receive the amendments and should acknowtedge that receipt by the time of submitting its offer. You should consider extending the time for receipt of offers, if necessary, to permit ot~erors to compete ef~'ectively under the modified terms. Best Practices In many solicitations, someone will bring to your attention a problern with the package that necessitates a change. The problem may have something to do with the "boilerpiate", changes in quantity, the specifications, delivery schedules, opening dates, or drawings. It may have to do with eorrecting an ambiguous provision or resolving conflicting provisions. Regardless of what (or who) requires the amendment, there are a few simple steps/cansiderations that are normally followed. As we discussed in the pre-bid/pre-proposal conference seatiaq even if a change was mentioned during that conference, an amendment to the soticitaiion should be issued. When you change the written terms of the solicitation, it must be done formally in writing. This serves two purpos~: (1) It documents the change in writing so there are no misunderstandings, and (2) It provides the changes to offerors who were not at the conference. As with other normally repetitive rec~uirements in the procurement process, many agencies have adopted a pre-printed form for amending solicitaiions. Those forms normally include the following elements (which can also be included in your amendment if you do not use a form): '0 of 45 O 1/10/97 13:09:35