7. Awards to best-value bidder. Except as otherwise provided by law, competitively awarded orders, grants or contracts made by the Director of the Bureau of General Services or by any department or agency of the State must be awarded to the best-value bidder, taking into consideration the qualities of the goods or services to be supplied, their conformity with the specifications, the purposes for which they are required, the date of delivery and the best interest of the State. If the bidder that was initially awarded the order, grant or contract does not perform, the Director of the Bureau of General Services may cancel the order, grant or contract and award a new order, grant or contract to the 2nd best-value bidder. The order, grant or contract may not be awarded to a bidder that the Director of the Bureau of General Services determined was not in compliance at the time the initial bid was submitted.

1. Only aggrieved persons may request a Stay of Award or an Appeal. An aggrieved person is any person who bids on a contract and who is adversely affected financially, professionally, or personally by that contract award decision.
2. A Stay must be requested in writing within ten calendar days of award notification and must state clearly the specific nature of the grievance, demonstrate irreparable injury to the petitioner, a reasonable likelihood of success on the merits of the appeal, and there being no substantial harm to adverse parties or to the general public.
a. The Director’s decision regarding the request for Stay will be communicated in writing within seven days of receipt of the request.
b. Failure of the petitioner to obtain a Stay does not affect the petitioner’s right to request a Hearing of Appeal.
3. An Appeal must be requested in writing within fifteen calendar days of award notification and must clearly demonstrate why the petitioners believes that at least one of three criteria has been met. The appeal criteria are: (1) a violation of law; (2) an irregularity creating a fundamental unfairness, and (3) an arbitrary or capricious award.
a. The Director’s decision regarding the request for a Hearing of Appeal will be communicated in writing within fifteen days of receipt of the request.
b. A hearing will be granted unless: (1) the petitioner is not an aggrieved person; (2) a prior request by the same petitioner about the same contract award has been granted; (3) the request was made more than 15 days after the notification of contract award; and, (4) the request is capricious, frivolous, or without merit.
4. An Appeal Committee consisting of three members will be appointed to hear the appeal. The Commissioner of the Department of Administrative and Financial Services will appoint two members from departments not involved in the contract award. The third members of the Appeal Committee will be the Director of the Division of Procurement Services or a designee.
5. The hearing must be held within sixty days of receipt of the initial request and will provide the opportunity for both the petitioner and the awarding department to present testimony and documentary evidence related to the issues on appeal. The Appeal Committee will keep a written record of the hearing and will meet after the close of the hearing to make its determination.
6. The Appeal Committee’s actions are limited to one of the following:
a. Validate the contact award decision under appeal, or
b. Invalidate the contract award decision under appeal.
7. The Appeal Committee will submit its written decision to the Director of the Bureau of General Services not later than fifteen days following the hearing after which the Director must notify the petitioner, the contracting State agency, and all intervenors within ten calendar days.
8. This notification is considered final agency action and, as such, may be eligible for judicial review.

Responsible bidder. No department, agency, commission or institution of state government shall purchase or enter into any contract for the purchase of any products manufactured, sold or distributed by any corporation, partnership, person or other legal entity determined by the State Purchasing Agent not to be a responsible bidder. Corporations, partnerships, person or other legal entities shall not be considered responsible bidders upon a finding of historic and continuing violation of the labor laws of the State of Maine and/or of the United States.

Responsible bidder. No department, agency, commission or institution of state government shall purchase or enter into any contract for the purchase of any products manufactured, sold or distributed by any corporation, partnership, person or other legal entity determined by the State Purchasing Agent not to be a responsible bidder. Corporations, partnerships, person or other legal entities shall not be considered responsible bidders upon a finding of historic and continuing violation of the labor laws of the State of Maine and/or of the United States.

The terms “services,” “supplies,” “materials” and “equipment” as used in this chapter mean any and all services, articles or things that are used by or furnished to the State or any department or agency thereof, and any and all printing, binding, publication of laws, journals and reports. Except as provided in chapters 141 to 155,1 any and all services, supplies, materials and equipment needed by one or more departments or agencies of the State Government must be directly purchased or contracted for by the Director of the Bureau of General Services, as may be determined from time to time by rules adopted pursuant to chapters 141 to 155, which rules the Department of Administrative and Financial Services is authorized and empowered to make. It is the intent and purpose of this chapter that the Director of the Bureau of General Services purchase collectively all services, supplies, materials and equipment for the State or any department or agency thereof in a manner that will best secure the greatest possible economy consistent with the grade or quality of the services, supplies, materials and equipment best adapted for the purposes for which they are needed. Whenever supplies and materials are available for purchase that are composed in whole or in part of recycled materials and are shown by the seller, supplier or manufacturer to be equal in quality and are competitively priced, except for paper and paper products, the Director of the Bureau of General Services shall purchase such recycled supplies and materials….

iii. Request for proposals must be advertised for a minimum of three consecutive days in the Kennebec Journal of Augusta, allowing a minimum of fifteen (15) calendar days from the final day of advertising to the proposal opening date. This section does not limit advertising in any other publication, trade publication or other media.