[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 23, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 23CFR636.103]

[Page 198-199]
 
                           TITLE 23--HIGHWAYS
 
 CHAPTER I--FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
 
PART 636--DESIGN-BUILD CONTRACTING--Table of Contents
 
                           Subpart A--General
 
Sec. 636.103  What are the definitions of terms used in this part?

    Unless otherwise specified in this part, the definitions in 23 
U.S.C. 101(a) are applicable to this part. Also, the following 
definitions are used:
    Adjusted low bid means a form of best value selection in which 
qualitative aspects are scored on a 0 to 100 scale expressed as a 
decimal; price is then divided by qualitative score to yield an 
``adjusted bid'' or ``price per quality point.'' Award is made to 
offeror with the lowest adjusted bid.
    Best value selection means any selection process in which proposals 
contain both price and qualitative components and award is based upon a 
combination of price and qualitative considerations.
    Clarifications means a written or oral exchange of information which 
takes place after the receipt of proposals when award without 
discussions is contemplated. The purpose of clarifications is to address 
minor or clerical revisions in a proposal.
    Communications are exchanges, between the contracting agency and 
offerors, after receipt of proposals, which lead to the establishment of 
the competitive range.
    Competitive acquisition means an acquisition process which is 
designed to foster an impartial and comprehensive evaluation of 
offerors' proposals, leading to the selection of the proposal 
representing the best value to the contracting agency.
    Competitive range means a list of the most highly rated proposals 
based on the initial proposal rankings. It is based on the rating of 
each proposal against all evaluation criteria.
    Contracting agency means the public agency awarding and 
administering a design-build contract. The contracting agency may be the 
STD or another State or local public agency.
    Deficiency means a material failure of a proposal to meet a 
contracting agency requirement or a combination of significant 
weaknesses in a proposal that increases the risk of unsuccessful 
contract performance to an unacceptable level.
    Design-bid-build means the traditional project delivery method where 
design and construction are sequential steps in the project development 
process.
    Design-build contract means an agreement that provides for design 
and construction of improvements by a contractor or private developer. 
The term encompasses design-build-maintain, design-build-operate, 
design-build-finance and other contracts that include services in 
addition to design and construction. Franchise and concession agreements 
are included in the term if they provide for the franchisee or 
concessionaire to develop the project which is the subject of the 
agreement.
    Design-builder means the entity contractually responsible for 
delivering the project design and construction.
    Discussions mean written or oral exchanges that take place after the 
establishment of the competitive range with the intent of allowing the 
offerors to revise their proposals.
    Fixed price/best design means a form of best value selection in 
which contract price is established by the owner and stated in the 
Request for Proposals document. Design solutions and other qualitative 
factors are evaluated and rated, with award going to the firm offering 
the best qualitative proposal for the established price.
    Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) services--means services 
which provide for the acquisition of technologies or systems of 
technologies (e.g., computer hardware or software, traffic control 
devices, communications link, fare payment system, automatic vehicle 
location system, etc.) that provide or contribute to the provision of 
one or more ITS user services as defined in the National ITS 
Architecture.
    Modified design-build means a variation of design-build in which the 
contracting agency furnishes offerors with partially complete plans. The 
design-builders role is generally limited to the completion of the 
design and construction of the project.
    Organizational conflict of interest means that because of other 
activities or relationships with other persons, a person is unable or 
potentially unable

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to render impartial assistance or advice to the owner, or the person's 
objectivity in performing the contract work is or might be otherwise 
impaired, or a person has an unfair competitive advantage.
    Prequalification means the contracting agency's process for 
determining whether a firm is fundamentally qualified to compete for a 
certain project or class of projects. The prequalification process may 
be based on financial, management and other types of qualitative data. 
Prequalification should be distinguished from short listing.
    Price proposal means the price submitted by the offeror to provide 
the required design and construction services.
    Proposal modification means a change made to a proposal before the 
solicitation closing date and time, or made in response to an amendment, 
or made to correct a mistake at any time before award.
    Proposal revision means a change to a proposal made after the 
solicitation closing date, at the request of or as allowed by a 
contracting officer, as the result of negotiations.
    Qualified project means any design-build project with a total 
estimated cost greater than $50 million or an intelligent transportation 
system project greater than $5 million (23 U.S.C. 112 (b)(3)(C)).
    Request for Proposals (RFP) means the document that describes the 
procurement process, forms the basis for the final proposals and may 
potentially become an element in the contract.
    Request for Qualification (RFQ) means the document issued by the 
owner in Phase I of the two-phased selection process. It typically 
describes the project in enough detail to let potential offerors 
determine if they wish to compete and forms the basis for requesting 
qualifications submissions from which the most highly qualified offerors 
can be identified.
    Short listing means the narrowing of the field of offerors through 
the selection of the most qualified offerors who have responded to an 
RFQ.
    Single-phase selection process means a procurement process where 
price and/or technical proposals are submitted in response to an RFP. 
Short listing is not used.
    Solicitation means a public notification of an owner's need for 
information, qualifications, or proposals related to identified 
services.
    Stipend means a monetary amount sometimes paid to unsuccessful 
offerors.
    Technical proposal means that portion of a design-build proposal 
which contains design solutions and other qualitative factors that are 
provided in response to the RFP document.
    Tradeoff means an analysis technique involving a comparison of price 
and non-price factors to determine the best value when considering the 
selection of other than the lowest priced proposal.
    Two-phase selection process means a procurement process in which the 
first phase consists of short listing (based on qualifications submitted 
in response to an RFQ) and the second phase consists of the submission 
of price and technical proposals in response to an RFP.
    Weakness means a flaw in the proposal that increases the risk of 
unsuccessful contract performance. A significant weakness in the 
proposal is a flaw that appreciably increases the risk of unsuccessful 
contract performance.
    Weighted criteria process means a form of best value selection in 
which maximum point values are pre-established for qualitative and price 
components, and award is based upon high total points earned by the 
offerors.