Best Value Best Practices

The following are not Best Value Procedures or Required Guidelines, but rather Best Practices recommended by the Office of the President.

1. Evaluation Criteria Categories

All pre-qualified bidders shall be evaluated on the following 5 categories:

  1. “Demonstrated Management Competency” means the experience, competence, capability, and capacity of the proposed management staffing to complete projects of similar size, scope, or complexity. At the very least, each bidder shall submit resumes of proposed management staff for the project including description of training and related experience. Campuses may also request staffing plans for each project, indicating the amount of time each staff member will devote to the specific project.
  2. "Financial Condition" means the financial resources needed to perform the contract. This includes, but is not limited to, the bidder’s capacity to finance the work and to obtain all required payment bonds, performance bonds, and liability insurance. To verify this information, each bidder shall be required to submit a copy of its latest financial statement, either reviewed or audited in accordance with the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
  3. "Labor Compliance" means the ability to comply with, and past performance with, contract and statutory requirements for the payment of wages and qualifications of the workforce. This includes, but is not limited to, the bidder's ability to comply with the apprenticeship requirements of the California Apprenticeship Council and the Department of Industrial Relations, past conformance with such requirements, and past conformance with requirements to pay prevailing wages on public works projects. To verify this information, the bidder shall be required to submit information on the program, as approved by the California Apprenticeship Council, that it would use to request dispatch of apprentices for the project.
  4. “Relevant experience" means the experience, competence, capability, and capacity to complete projects of similar size, scope, or complexity. Each bidder shall be required to provide information on similar previous projects (as described by the campus for each specific project), within the last 5 years.
  5. "Safety record" means prior history concerning the safe performance of construction contracts. This includes, but is not limited to, the bidder's experience modification rate for the most recent five-year period, its average total recordable injury or illness rate and average lost work rate for the most recent five-year period. To verify this information, the bidder would be required to submit written records of all injuries in the last five years.

2. Evaluation Committee

An Evaluation Committee consisting of at least three (3) members shall evaluate the qualifications of the bidders based only on the information submitted and shall determine each bidder’s qualifications point on an Questionnaire Scorecard (showing total available points including point range for each category and sub category). Each member of the Evaluation Committee will be given one Questionnaire Scorecard per bidder. Each campus shall develop this form with the point range listed for each of the five (5) categories and any subcategories, as relevant for the project. This sample Questionnaire Scorecard can be used as a guide to create the form. All members of the Evaluation Committee shall be trained in the Best Value evaluation process and the details of the project. Each member shall be knowledgeable in the categories and subcategories of the qualifications criteria with respect to their relative importance to the project. The amount of each bid shall be unknown to the Evaluation Committee until after the qualifications scores have been determined and announced.

3. Alternates

It is strongly recommended that when alternates are utilized, the campus consult with the Office of the President as to best practices prior to issuance of the bidding documents.

4. Best Value Selection Process

Once the qualification points are determined by each Evaluation Committee member and recorded on their respective scorecards, the total qualifications points for each bidder shall be determined by adding the qualification points assigned by each member of the Evaluation Committee. QP (the average of the total qualifications points) shall be determined prior to bid opening. QP shall be entered into the Best Value Score Analysis form, dated and saved into a permanent location and will not be modified unless authorized by the Office of the President. Before finalizing the total score, the campus is encouraged to, consult with the Office of the President regarding issues or concerns with determining QP or the Best Value process. 

At bid opening, QPs shall be announced with bidders identified only by a number or letter (in case all bids must be rejected due to a problem with the bidding or receipt of bids above the Project budget). The announcement of QP scores, using the “blind” process, is announced. Then the financial or dollar bid is announced, continuing with the "blind" process. BVS is not calculated at this time. Review bid for responsiveness. If all bids are not rejected, then the BVS is determined. 

The bidder with the lowest BVS shall be the apparent Best Value lowest responsible bidder. However, no public announcement of BVS or contract award shall be made without prior UCOP approval in accordance with DA 2564. 

However, if one or more BVS bids is equal to the lowest bid, refer to the Facilities Manual FM5[I]:7.4 to determine the award.

The campus shall deliver to the Office of the President the required documents listed in Best Value Contractor Selection Guidelines. The campus is encouraged to send the documents two or more weeks prior to advertising to avoid approval delays.

Upon approval from the Office of the President, the Best Value contractor shall be publicly announced along with its Best Value Score and its comparison to the other bidders. 

To follow any process other than the one listed in this document, prior approval from the Office of the President is required. 

Nothing in this document shall waive the Office of the President’s rights to reject any bid. 

The Best Value Process requires, at a minimum, the implementation of and adherence to procedures to:

  1. Utilize best value criteria categories (as listed above) and the Best Value Score Analysis template. The template may be modified only to the extent specifically authorized in the directions contained therein.
  2. Fair and objective evaluation of proposals with adequate documentation to permit a review (if deemed necessary) of the decision making process.
  3. Ensure, to the extent permissible by law, that sensitive, confidential and proprietary information submitted is not revealed outside the University.
  4. Ensure that, as a minimum, the Project Manager and the Contract Administrator have received the mandated instruction on the procedures applicable to the best value process. Each campus will develop criteria for each specific project based on the needs of the project. The criteria will include the financial condition, relevant experience, demonstrated management competency, labor compliance, and the safety record of the bidder. A component of the safety record shall be compliance with the Electrical Certification and Apprenticeship Requirements.
  5. Ensure that objective criteria and relative merits of each category will be provided to bidders clearly and concisely in the Bidding Documents.
  6. Ensure that submittals will be evaluated and scored as described in the Bidding Documents. Points will be divided into the price to obtain the cost per quality point with the lowest cost per quality point determined to be the low bidder.
  7. Allow any entity not satisfied with the procedures used on a specific project, including bidders, the opportunity to file a protest with the campus. The protest must be filed not later than 3 business days after the BVS is announced. The decision of the campus may be appealed to the Chair, Construction Review Board at the Office of the President. Such appeals may be referred to an outside Hearing Officer for determination.

5. Additional Contract Documents Required and Best Value Considerations.

Contract modifications, unique to Best Value, are available for each delivery method on the Facilities Manual Best Value page.

Campuses are encouraged to educate contractors and subcontractors on the Best Value Process as they deem fit to help the contracting community better understand this newly adopted selection process.

The Best Value process is most effective to select contractors for projects with complex design, delivery and installation requirements, including research and medical installations, as well as challenging work areas and scheduling needs based on ongoing University operations.

Revision December 23, 2011 (Change # FM 11-050-C)