Professional Services Procurement

Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (Commission) Procedures for Procurement of Professional Services

The Issuing Department shall develop the RFP to be advertised by on the Commission’s website or PennDOT’s Engineering and Construction Management System (ECMS).
The RFP shall include the evaluation criteria in relative order of importance. Evaluation criteria generally may include but is not limited to the following: understanding the problem; specialized experience or qualifications of the firm and personnel; soundness of approach; cost (cannot be used for Architect/Engineering services); past performance; and other relevant factors specific to the project.
The RFP’s may include Additional Selection Factors used by the PSPC or by the Commission such as geographic proximity to the project, Pennsylvania presence, equitable distribution of work, diversity inclusion and other relevant factors, when applicable.

1 The definition of RFP includes Requests for Proposals, Requests for Statements of Interest and Requests for Qualifications

The Responses shall be reviewed by the Technical Evaluation Team (TET).
The TET shall be approved by the CEO and consist of a diverse group of subject matter experts (SMEs) from the Issuing Department and other affected departments and independent professionals. In determining if the use of independent professionals is necessary, the Issuing Department shall address criteria related to experience, expertise, and estimated contract value.
The TET shall provide a qualitative narrative assessment of all responses, identifying strong and weak points associated with the published evaluation criteria and provide information associated with Additional Selection Factors.
The TET shall rate each response as Highly Recommended, Recommended or Not Recommended for the particular assignment based on the published evaluation criteria.

The TET will present the narrative evaluation summaries to the Professional Services Procurement Committee (PSPC).
The permanent members of the PSPC shall include the Chief Counsel (non-voting member), Chief Engineer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Technology Officer, and Director of Procurement and Logistics. The CEO/COO’s direct report for the Issuing Department shall serve as a fifth voting member of the PSPC on an ad-hoc basis if the Issuing Department is not under the supervision of the one of the permanent members.
The PSPC shall review and consider the TET’s narrative evaluation summaries and ratings.
The PSPC may also consider Additional Selection Factors, when applicable, as set forth in the RFP, taking into account the estimated value, scope, complexity and professional nature of the services to be rendered and any other relevant circumstances.
The PSPC shall validate the TET’s evaluation and make an independent determination as to the rating for each response. Minutes shall be taken of these meetings.
The PSPC shall not rank the firms, but rather compile an alphabetical list of Highly Recommended firms to be submitted to the Commission for award at a public meeting.

Commissioners shall receive and consider all TET and PSPC materials related to the “Highly Recommended” firms as well as Additional Selection Factors, when applicable.
At a public meeting, the Commissioners shall select the top firms in alphabetical order and provide the reasons supporting the determination.
If approved, the Commissioners shall conduct a public discussion of the finalists in order to reach a consensus on the most “Highly Recommended” firm(s) whose proposal is determined to be the most advantageous to the Commission based on their review of all materials.
The Commissioners shall vote to affirm the selection of the most “Highly Recommended” firm(s) and authorize Commission staff to enter into contract negotiations with the selected firm(s).

All firms seeking to do business with the Commission shall affirm, in writing in its response to the RFP that no conflicts of interest exist or shall disclose in writing if a conflict of interest exists
All TET and PSPC members, including independent professionals, involved in the procurement review process shall execute a statement of confidentiality for each procurement review and shall be required to affirm in writing the they have no conflicts of interest, actual or perceived, or direct financial interest in the firms competing for Commission business.
Contractor Integrity Provisions will apply to professional services contracts. Upon award of a contract and at the discretion of the Chief Compliance Officer, the firm will be required to complete a Background Qualifications Questionnaire, unless one is already on file, prior to entering into contract with the Commission and attend annual ethics training provided by the Commission.