16. a. Once received, proposals shall be submitted to the design professional or designated employee retained by the contracting unit. No proposal shall be considered until certification is issued by the design professional or designated employee retained by the contracting unit that the proposal is consistent with the evaluation factors. No proposal for a design-build contract may be accepted unless the contracting unit determines that there was adequate competition for such contract.

b. The technical review committee shall score the technical proposals using the criteria and methodology set forth in the request for proposals in accordance with paragraph (2) of subsection a. of section 14 of P.L.2021, c.71 (C. 18A:64-76.9) and make an award recommendation to the head of the contracting unit. The head of the contracting unit shall make the design-build contract award decision, consistent with the award recommendation.

c. The contracting unit shall evaluate the received technical proposals and price bid against the published factors and weighting to arrive at a composite score. The contracting unit shall make public the design-builder to be awarded the contract for the project. After the award decision is made, the contracting unit shall make public the sealed price bid for each proposal submitted to the contracting unit by a design-builder.

d. Acceptance of a proposal shall be made by written notice to the design-builder which submitted the accepted proposal. At the same time notice of acceptance is delivered, the contracting unit shall also inform, in writing, the other design-builders that their proposals were not accepted.

e. The contracting unit shall have the right to reject any and all proposals, except for the purpose of evading the provisions and policies of sections 10 through 17 of P.L.2021, c.71 (C. 18A:64-76.5 through C. 18A:64-76.12). The contracting unit shall solicit new proposals using the same evaluation factors, budget constraints, or qualifications, unless there has been a material change in circumstances affecting the needs of the contracting unit, including but not limited to an environmental issue, natural disaster, state of emergency, or unforeseen fiscal constraint.

f. Proposals may be withdrawn for any reason at any time prior to acceptance.

g. When a design-builder receives notification from a public body that the proposal, which it has submitted, has not been accepted, the design-builder may, within 30 days, request to review the design-build proposals submitted, the technical review committee evaluation scores from the selection process, and the final recommendation of award document. The design-builder shall submit this request in writing.

L.2021, c.71, s.16.