PUBLIC PURCHASING IN FLORIDA DEFINING REQUIREMENTS (REV. 09/06/05)

DEFINING REQUIREMENTS  Needs Assessment  General & Special Conditions  Specifications & Statements of Work  Performance Objectives  “State Objectives”  Insurance & Bonding Requirements

NEEDS ASSESSMENT Who is responsible for deciding, and how will they decide:  Do we need anything? Why?  What, how much, what quality & when?  Should we make it or buy it?

DO WE NEED ANYTHING? WHY?  STATUTE: What function are we required by law to perform?  MISSION: What mission objectives do we have? Examples: Attaining public service goals (measures), Performance Improvement, Cost Reduction or Avoidance, combination.  HISTORY: The program and the purchase. Why? DECISION MAKERS: Generally decided by the operating entity not the purchasing agent. BUT the purchasing agent can offer guidance.

WHAT, HOW MUCH, WHAT QUALITY & WHEN?  What: Consider performance objective, compatibility, availability, cost, business process needs, etc.  How much: The immediate need, or over a customer range and period of time. Why does it matter?  Quality: Which: Best, most appropriate to the use, lowest pricing point?  When: Schedule consequences. Immediacy of need. Is it a stand-alone, or does it affect down-stream activities? Any cost impact?

WHAT, HOW MUCH, WHAT QUALITY & WHEN? Decision makers: Generally decided by the operating entity not the purchasing agent. BUT the purchasing agent can offer guidance.

SHOULD WE MAKE IT OR BUY IT?  Florida Statutes [ (3)] require consideration to include (not limited to) 1.Identifying & assessing in writing project needs & requirements 2.Availability of agency employees 3.Budgetary Constraints or availability 4.Facility and equipment availability 5.Current and projected agency workload capabilities 6.The ability of any other state agency to perform the services.

SHOULD WE MAKE IT OR BUY IT? Consider in house and out  Resource Availability, Cost  Quality  Core responsibility  Risk and recovery

SHOULD WE MAKE IT OR BUY IT?  Generally decided by the operating entity not the purchasing agent. BUT the purchasing agent can offer guidance and has a market-testing tool, the RFI.  See also s , Florida Statutes and pdf/0402rpt.pdf and r/ (then see OPB Guidelines 22 Jan. ’04) pdf/0402rpt.pdf r/

GENERAL & SPECIAL CONDITIONS  General Conditions: Terms applicable to a large number of contracts, contained in State Purchasing PUR 1000 Form, on the web at asing/purchasing_forms_and_docume nts/purchasing_forms. Agencies may add additional conditions. asing/purchasing_forms_and_docume nts/purchasing_forms  Special Conditions: Terms applicable to a specific purchase but not including commodity specifications or statement of work.

GENERAL & SPECIAL CONDITIONS General and special conditions both deal with mutual obligations, mutual understanding, agency of the parties, and the avoidance, assignment and management of risk. General Instructions to Respondents are addressed in PUR 1001, and include conditions of four processes and procedures: solicitation, response, evaluation/award and protest.

GENERAL & SPECIAL CONDITIONS Examples from Florida State Term Contracts presented by Governance Manager Tony Garcia

SPECIFICATIONS & STATEMENTS OF WORK  “SPECIFICATIONS” generally applies to a description of commodities sought in a solicitation.  “STATEMENT OF WORK” generally applies to a description of services sought in a solicitation  Some solicitations include both commodity specifications and a statement of work.

SPECIFICATIONS  The Dept of Management Services last published a “Standards Guide” addressing specifications in It’s on the web at chase/standardmanual/ chase/standardmanual/  Specifications set forth the minimum requirements an offered commodity must meet in order to be considered “responsive” to the solicitation.  Note: A “responsive” bid must meet other requirements in addition to the specification requirements, e.g. general & special conditions.

SPECIFICATIONS SPECIFICATIONS ARE GENERALLY DIVIDED INTO FOUR TYPES:  A DESIGN specification  A PERFORMANCE specification  A QUALIFIED PRODUCTS LIST (QPL) or BRAND NAME OR EQUAL  A COMBINATION of two or more of the above

DESIGN specification DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS GENERALLY INCLUDE SUCH REQUIREMENTS AS  Materials  Construction or assembly  Dimensions  Tolerances  Manner of operation  Energy requirements  And other physical, mechanical & chemical properties

CAVEAT EMPTOR A design specification alone may be appropriate to some degree for general requirements contracts, but may limit the buyer’s rights under the Uniform Commercial Code (cf. s FS at m?App_mode=Display_Index&Title_Reques t=XXXIX#TitleXXXIX ) if the product proves unsuitable for the purpose it was purchased. m?App_mode=Display_Index&Title_Reques t=XXXIX#TitleXXXIX

PRODUCT FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE  S Florida Statutes: Implied warranty; fitness for particular purpose.-- Where the seller at the time of contracting has reason to know any particular purpose for which the goods are required and that the buyer is relying on the seller's skill or judgment to select or furnish suitable goods, there is unless excluded or modified under the next section an implied warranty that the goods shall be fit for such purpose.

PERFORMANCE SPECIFICATION  Intended use or application  Features & functions  Capabilities  Compatibility with other equipment or functions  Outputs  Outcomes

QUALIFIED PRODUCTS LIST (QPL) or BRAND NAME OR EQUAL  The QPL is generally used in Florida when product acceptance procedures are established by rule and products are qualified (or disqualified) using published testing procedures applied by the buying agency, other agencies or laboratories  Examples include some highway materials, police radars & body armor

BRAND NAME OR EQUAL  Brand Name or Equal is a less precise method of indicating a general level of design, performance and quality. “Equal” may be difficult to define.  Brand Name or Equal specifications allow other comparable brands to be offered for consideration, with some exceptions (e.g. some police equipment where uniformity is required for various reasons)

COMBINATION SPECIFICATION As the name implies, a combination specification may include two or more of Performance Design Qualified Products List (QPL) or Brand Name or Equal COMBINATION SPECS may be the most common in Florida agency bids

Standards Guide  Florida’s 1996 Standards Guide is patterned after Federal guidelines on commodity specifications  It suggests a standard format for commodity specifications

SPECIFICATION FORMAT  1.0 SCOPE AND CLASSIFICATION  2.0 APPLICABLE PUBLICATIONS  3.0 REQUIREMENTS  4.0 SAMPLING, INSPECTION & TEST  5.0 PREPARATION FOR DELIVERY  6.0 NOTES Each of these is or can be further divided, e.g. paragraph 3.1, then subparagraph 3.1.1, 3.1.2, then 3.2, 3.2.1, etc.

1.0 SCOPE AND CLASSIFICATION  SCOPE identifies by name the item(s) of bid  CLASSIFICATION lists types, grades and groups of the item(s) of bid

2.0 APPLICABLE PUBLICATIONS APPLICABLE PUBLICATIONS identifies any available descriptive documents included by reference, such as ANSI (ansi.org) or ASTM (astm.org) specifications, applicable rules in the Florida Administrative Code, etc.

3.0 REQUIREMENTS This section includes any and all of the following which are applicable, each of which may be subdivided into a series of requirements Performance specifications Design specifications QPL or Brand name or equivalent

4.0 SAMPLING, INSPECTION & TEST  Indicates requirements for samples if any: What, how many, when, purpose, eventual disposition  Describes any acceptance tests to be performed and criteria to be used in determining pass or fail

5.0 PREPARATION FOR DELIVERY This section deals with  Packages for unit of measure  Packaging of packages, and requirements for containers or pallets  Marking or labeling of packages, packaging, etc., and including MSDS

6.0 NOTES  Application of the specification to future purchases of the commodity  Statutory references

STATEMENT OF WORK  A. What (design and/or performance): (1) Work to be accomplished (2) Tasks to be included (3) Materials to be furnished (4) Outputs (5) Outcomes (6) Reports

STATEMENT OF WORK  B. When: Schedule desired (start, milestones and completion)  C. Who: Staff and skills/licensures/certifications required  D. How: Methods to be used  E. Where: Location/service delivery area, environment, persons/material/circumstances  F. Why (program objectives): Relates to desired outcome(s) [OR SET APART IN A STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES]  G. Other

STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES A Statement of Objectives can be included in, supplement, or replace a statement of work

A Statement of Objectives should generally include  Background  Objectives  Benchmarks  Outcomes  Performance Measurement  And may be tied to financial consequences in addition to contract enforcement procedures generally

EXAMPLE: STATE OBJECTIVES A statement of objectives designed to obtain five state objectives without affecting price or providing competitive advantage or violating constitutional protections

STATE OBJECTIVES  1) One Florida/Equity in Contracting  2) Environmental Considerations  3) Certification of Drug-Free Workplace Program  4) Products Available from the Blind or Other Handicapped (RESPECT)  5) Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises, Inc. (PRIDE)

STATE OBJECTIVES Negotiating the state objectives plan:  Evaluate the successful bidder’s plan and the effort and analysis behind it  Consider product & service availability based on past history, catalogs, directories and expert advice  Plan for the negotiations  Aim for a win/win outcome  Understand the contractor’s interests and search for accommodation

INSURANCE & BONDING REQUIREMENTS To be presented by purchasing analyst Theresa Dollar