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Many jurisdictions use "best and final offer" to improve the quality of proposals which are potentially acceptable but have some deficiencies. Bidders may be asked to reduce costs or clarify specific items in their proposals, such as the project plan or methodology.

Here is the view of this building block from three different perspectives - the Model Procurement Code, State of Utah, and Massachusetts, respectively:

Model Procurement Code

R3-203.14.4 Best and Final Offers. The Procurement Officer shall establish a common date and time for the submission of best and final offers. Best and final offers shall be submitted only once; provided, however, the Chief Procurement Officer or the head of a Purchasing Agency may make a written determination that it is in the [State's] best interest to conduct additional discussions or change the [State's] requirements and require another submission of best and final offers. Otherwise, no discussion of or changes in the best and final offers shall be allowed prior to award. Offerors shall also be informed that if they do not submit a notice of withdrawal or another best and final offer, their immediate previous offer will be construed as their best and final offer.

State of Utah

Best and Final Offers can be obtained if the evaluation committee determines that additional information is necessary in order to make a decision. Each acceptable or potentially acceptable offeror must be given the same opportunity to submit best and final offers. If, for example, one proposal needs clarification or additional information in the program description and another in the budget justification, each offeror must be given the opportunity to clarify or define both the program description and the budget justification.

In order to initiate Best and Final Offers the following must be done:

1) The State Purchasing Agent must be notified of the offerors to be given the opportunity to submit Best and Final Offers and the areas which are to be addressed.

2) The Purchasing Agent will send each offeror a letter stating the areas to be covered in the best and final offer and the date and time in which best and final offers must be returned.

3) If offerors do not submit a Best and Final Offer, their previous submission will be considered their Best and Final Offer.

State of Massachusetts

Best and Final Offer (BAFO)

Pursuant to 801 CMR 21.06(11), a Procurement Management Team may provide Bidders with an opportunity to provide a "Best and Final Offer" (BAFO). The BAFO process represents an optional step in the Bidder selection process and is not part of the contract negotiation process. BAFO may be useful when no single Response addresses all the specifications, when the cost submitted by all Bidders are too high, when two or more Bidders are virtually tied after the evaluation process or when all Bidders submitted responses that are unclear or deficient in one or more areas.

The PMT may restrict the number of Bidders invited to submit a Best and Final Offer, or may offer the option to all Bidders. In either case, the PMT should provide the same information and the same submission requirements to all Bidders chosen to submit a "Best and Final Offer".

Departments are required to develop and distribute to selected Bidders the written terms for "Best and Final Offer" with specific information on what is being requested, submission requirements with time lines and information on the basis for evaluating responses and determining the successful Bidder(s). Bidders may be asked to reduce costs or provide additional clarification to specific sections of the RFR.

Selected Bidders are not required to submit a BAFO and may submit a written response notifying the PMT that their Response remains as originally submitted. The terms of the Best and Final Offer may not identify either the current rank of any of the Bidders selected for a Best and Final Offer or the lowest costs currently proposed. The Procurement Team Leader will have full discretion to accept or reject any information submitted in a BAFO.

OSD recommends that Departments consider how the BAFO option will be evaluated. Departments may evaluate the submissions of "Best and Final Offers" as an addition to the scores already received by Bidders on their original RFR response or may develop a new evaluation process based entirely on the "Best and Final Offer" submission. Departments should articulate the evaluation process to be used in the written terms of the "Best and Final Offer".

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