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By its nature, public procurement is a lengthy process, and information tech-
nology (IT) procurement tends to be even longer because of the extra effort
needed to carefully analyze the business needs of government and define the
scope of the procurement. Adequate time and resources must be dedicated to
ensure a successful acquisition.

9.3.1 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR GOVERNMENTAL ACTION
As an action of the government, a procurement must comply with the array of
general rules applicable to any governmental action. Final governmental deci-
sions are open for public review, so freedom of information laws or sunshine
laws must be complied with during the procurement process. The general
theory is that the final information maintained by the government should be
available upon request. In addition to the solicitation, the submitted proposals
and evaluations may be subject to the statutory requirements on the release of
information. The public access laws, however, generally recognize the need to
balance the interests of the public in knowing what its government is doing with
the property and privacy interests of vendors.
This balancing of interests is especially relevant in light of the proprietary
nature of AFIS technology and the significant financial investment made in an
AFIS. As part of the procurement process, a governmental entity may request
information about specific AFIS technology from a vendor that is of a confi-
dential or proprietary nature. The proprietary information may be critical for
a government to thoroughly evaluate whether the technology meets its business
needs. Similarly, in light of the significant investment made in the AFIS, a gov-
ernment may also require detailed and confidential information about the
financial status of a vendor, such as copies of audited financial statements. Con-
sideration must be given to how your government’s requirements treat this
information under its public access laws. This information must be clearly com-
municated to the vendor so that informed decisions can be made about the
procurement, including what risks, if any, are associated with the possible public
release of such information. Many jurisdictions provide a specific statutory
framework for a vendor to exempt its proprietary information from public
release. Such framework must be understood and incorporated into the request
for proposals (RFP).
Records retention requirements must also be considered. While far from
glamorous, records retention requirements are the foundation of governmen-
tal operations and form the basis for future evaluations of the procurement.
For example, suppose that Agency A releases a competitive procurement for an
AFIS and awards the contract to Vendor B. The System is implemented and
things go along fine. Toward the end of the contract term, the parties decide