SPO-The Protest Process: Step by Step for Procurement of Health & Human Services

Step	Title	Who Does It	Submittal Deadline (When must it be done?)	To Whom	Form Number
1	Informal Request for Explanation Description & Comments	Protestor	An informal explanation can be requested at any time. See comments:	Procurement officer for the protested procurement ("Procurement officer")	N/A
2	Notice of Protest Description & Comments	Protestor	Within 5 working days of the postmark of the Notice of Findings and Decision. Deemed submitted when actually received if by hand delivery or date postmarked by US mail. See comments.	Procurement officer Head of purchasing agency	SPO-H-801
3	Scheduling & Settlement Conference Description & Comments	Head of Purchasing Agency/designee See comments.	Schedule for the meeting must be within 3 days of receiving the Notice of Protest	Protestor Procurement officer	SPO-H-802
4	Scheduling Order Description & Comments	Head of purchasing agency	At the conference or shortly after.	Protestor Procurement officer	SPO-H-803
5	Request for Clarification Description & Comments	Protestor Procurement officer (as applicable)	Per scheduling order.	Protestor Procurement officer (as applicable)	SPO-H-804
6	Response to Request for Clarification Description & Comments	Protestor Procurement officer (as applicable)	Per the scheduling order.	Protestor Procurement officer (as applicable)	SPO-H-805
7	Formal Protest Description & Comments	Protestor	Per scheduling order. By hand delivery or US mail. Deemed submitted when actually received if by hand delivery or date postmarked by US mail. See Comments.	Head of purchasing agency Procurement officer	SPO-H-806
8	Response to Protest Description & Comments	Procurement officer	Per scheduling order. By hand delivery or US mail. Deemed submitted when actually received if by hand delivery or date postmarked by US mail.	Head of purchasing agency Protestor	SPO-H-807
9	Reply Description & Comments	Protestor	Per scheduling order. By hand delivery or US mail. Deemed submitted when actually received if by hand delivery or date postmarked by US mail.	Procurement officer Head of purchasing agency	SPO-H-808
10	Decision by Head of State Agency Description & Comments	Head of State Agency	Per scheduling order unless the head of the purchasing agency determines that an extension is necessary and gives written notice to both parties. 1)By hand delivery, or 2) US mail, and to the extent practicable by fax.	Protestor Procurement officer Chief procurement officer	---

After the notice of award (Statement of Findings and Decision) is issued the applicant will usually call the procurement officer of the procurement in question if they are unhappy with the results and considering a protest.

Procurement officer: Be patient, listen, and explain any misunderstandings they may have. Advise them of the time limit to file a notice of protest, where to find Form SPOH-800, who it must be sent to, etc.

Protestor: Explain clearly what the problem is and listen to the explanation if one is given. Write down the information regarding how to file a notice of protest, the deadline for submission and to whom to send it.

An informal explanation can be requested at anytime. However, protestors must keep in mind there is no extension of the submittal deadline for the Notice of Protest (see Step 2).

To Whom: Procurement officer for the protested procurement (“Procurement officer”)

The protestor files a Notice of Protest indicating their basis of protest as a violation of one or more of the following:

Protestor: It is extremely important to submit the notice of protest in a timely and proper manner. If the notice of protest is not delivered in the manner described in section 3-148-301, Hawaii Administrative Rules it cannot be considered. It is the responsibility of the protestor to ensure the proper and timely submission.

The names and addresses of the procurement officer and the head of the purchasing agency for the protested procurement are located in the RFP in Section 1, Administrative Overview, in the Protests subsection.

Must be hand delivered or postmarked by US Mail Within 5 working days of the postmark of the Statement and Findings and Decision or the Notice of Rejection.

Note: If mailed it shall be considered submitted on the date it was postmarked by US mail (United States Postal Service). If hand delivered, it shall be considered submitted when actually received.

Other deliveries, such as by private mail companies, will be considered hand deliveries and will be considered submitted when actually received.

The head of the purchasing agency or designee schedules a Scheduling and Settlement Conference. The purpose of the conference is two fold:

Head of purchasing agency or designee schedules conference. Head of purchasing agency/designee, protestor & procurement officer attend.

Note: The settlement and scheduling conference may be conducted in person, by telephone or by other electronic communications medium.

Schedule for the meeting must be within 3 days of receiving the Notice of Protest.

The scheduling order is issued by the head of the purchasing agency. The scheduling order sets the deadlines for requests for clarifications, replies, the protest and the written decision.

To the extent practicable, the submission of requests for clarification, protests, response and reply shall be completed within 10 working days. More or less time may be provided in the scheduling order at the discretion of the head of the purchasing agency.

Each party submits their “Request for Clarification” in writing to the other party by the deadline established in the scheduling order.

This is an optional step for each party. However, whether there will be requests for clarification must be decided at the Scheduling and Settlement Conference so that the head of the purchasing agency will know if this step shall be included in the Scheduling Order. If one party desires to make a request for clarification it will be included for both.

As applicable, each party provides a response to the “Request for Clarification” in writing to the other party by the deadline established in the scheduling order.

Evaluations of other applicants proposals for the protested procurement are not releasable during a protest. (See section section 3-143-616, HAR.) Applications are evaluated against the evaluation criteria indicated in the RFP. After all applications are evaluated they are ranked from the highest to lowest score.

Protestor: Make sure the basis of your protest is clearly stated and any documentary evidence is included. Ensure the basis of your protest falls within the allowable matters that may be protested and clearly indicate which matter(s) are the basis of your protest.

Be specific. For instance, if the state agency is violating Chapter 103F, HRS, indicate which section of the statute is being violated and the manner in which it was violated.

Make sure the protest is delivered to the proper addresses. If it is not delivered in the manner described in section 3-148-303, Hawaii Administrative Rules, it cannot be considered.

It is the responsibility of the protestor to ensure proper and timely submission.

Note: If mailed it shall be considered submitted on the date it was postmarked by US mail (United States Postal Service). If hand delivered, it shall be considered submitted when actually received.

Other deliveries, such as by private mail/courier services, will be considered hand deliveries and will be considered submitted when actually received.

The purchasing agency issuing the RFP responds in writing to the formal written protest.

Note: If mailed it shall be considered submitted on the date it was postmarked by US mail (United States Postal Service). If hand delivered, it shall be considered submitted when actually received. It is the responsibility of the procurement officer to ensure proper and timely submission.

The protestor may make a reply to the purchasing agency’s response to the protest. The reply may contain the following:

Any additional relevant information that would help the head of the purchasing agency make a decision.

Make sure it is delivered to the proper addresses Note that this is an optional step.

If it is not delivered in the manner described in section 3-148-305, Hawaii Administrative Rules, it cannot be considered. However, as this is an optional step, the head of the purchasing agency will issue a written decision unless the protestor wishes to withdraw the protest.

Note: If mailed it shall be considered submitted on the date it was postmarked by US mail (United States Postal Service). If hand delivered, it shall be considered submitted when actually received.

When a protest cannot by resolved by mutual agreement, the head of the purchasing agency resolves the protest by a written decision. The written decision will be issued by the deadline established in the scheduling order, unless the head of the purchasing agency determines that an extension is necessary and gives written notice to both parties.

Note: If the head of the purchasing agency determines that an extension to the issuance of the written decision is necessary, written notice must be given to both parties (the protestor and the procurement officer).

Submittal Deadline: Per the scheduling order unless the head of the purchasing agency determines that an extension is necessary and gives written notice to both parties.

2) United State mail and, to the extent practicable, by telefacsimile transmission.

To Whom: 1) Procurement officer 2) Head of purchasing agency and 3) Chief procurement officer.

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State Procurement Office ~ 1151 Punchbowl Street, #230A ~ Honolulu, HI 96813 ~ Fax: 808.587.4703