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the scores. From those results, a recommendation is made to an executive level
committee or other individual authorized to commit the government to a con-
tract. If everything satisfies the executive review and authorization is received
to proceed, a letter to the selected vendor is prepared advising that it is the
apparent awardee. Receipt of the contract, however, is contingent upon the suc-
cessful negotiation of a contract. Contract negotiations would then commence.
If the negotiations are unsuccessful, if the governmental agency so provided in
its RFP, it could discontinue negotiations and instead award to the next highest
evaluated vendor, with the award process starting anew.
Some jurisdictions permit “best and final” offer negotiations. Under this
process, a previously defined subset of vendors is invited to submit their best
and final offers. These offers would be evaluated against a pre-defined set of
criteria and a decision would be made. The apparent winner would be notified
and the contract negotiations commenced.
Depending on the process set forth in the RFP, the non-winning vendors are
notified of the evaluation results and are provided with an opportunity to be
debriefed. Generally speaking, a debriefing that reviews only a vendor’s pro-
posal can occur before the completion of the contract negotiation and approval
process. While the rules vary, generally if the briefing will be comparative in
nature (comparing one proposal to another), it would not occur until after the
resulting contract was negotiated and fully approved. Jurisdiction practices
differ and inquiry is warranted.

9.7.5 CONTRACTUAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS
In addition to the information presented as part of the evaluation criterion,
vendors should be placed on notice regarding the nature and types of terms
that will be included in the resulting contract. Frequently there are costs or
risks associated with contract terms and conditions that a vendor must factor
into the proposal. Governmental contractual terms and conditions fall into
three general categories: mandatory terms and conditions that cannot be nego-
tiated, sometimes referred to as boilerplate clauses; agency-specific preferred
terms and conditions that could be negotiated; and terms that as a matter of
practice tend to be negotiated. Consideration should be given to clearly iden-
tifying, to the extent possible, the categories of terms and conditions.
Mandatory terms and conditions are just that: mandatory. The governmen-
tal agency has no authority to vary the wording or omit the inclusion. The terms
and conditions could result from statutory requirements or the requirement of
control agencies. For example, in the state of New York, there are a series of
statutory provisions that must be included in any contract exceeding $15,000.