(1) Objection of Technical Requirements, Scope of Services or Specifications Prior to Evaluation of Responses.
(a) The State shall use technical requirements and scopes of services that are non-restrictive. Concerns regarding any defects or ambiguities involving a solicitation shall be made in writing and delivered to the Central Procurement Office no later than seven (7) calendar days after the solicitation has been posted to the website of the Central Procurement Office or the Delegated State Agency as the case may be.
(2) Protest After Notice of Intent to Award.
(a) Any aggrieved respondent, who has submitted a response to a solicitation subject to these Rules and applicable law, may file a written protest with the Chief Procurement Officer. The protest must be received by the Central Procurement Office within seven (7) calendar days from the beginning of the Open File Period.
1. On the first day of the Open File Period, all respondents are deemed to know all facts documented in the State’s procurement files.
2. A written protest filed by a respondent with the Chief Procurement Officer shall enumerate and detail all grounds for the protest in accordance with these Rules.
3. The Chief Procurement Officer may consider the following grounds for protest and no others:
(i) The contract award was arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion or exceeded the authority of the Central Procurement Office or the Delegated State Agency.
(ii) The procurement process was conducted contrary to a constitutional, statutory or regulatory provision.
(iii) The Central Procurement Office or the Delegated State Agency did not follow the rules of the procurement as set forth in the solicitation in making the contract award, and such failure to follow the rules of the procurement materially affected the contract award.
(iv) The procurement process involved responses that were not independently arrived at in open competition, were collusive, or were submitted in bad faith.
(v) The contract award was the result of a technical or mathematical mistake or error during the evaluation process.
4. The Aggrieved Respondent challenging the procurement process or contract award has the burden of proof and persuasion with respect to the invalidity of the procurement process or contract award.
5. All protests allowed under this Rule shall first be filed with the Chief Procurement Officer.
The Aggrieved Respondent shall have the right to file a protest directly with the Protest Committee, but only in the event the Chief Procurement Officer fails to acknowledge a protest within fifteen (15) calendar days of receipt of a protest, fails to resolve the protest within sixty (60) calendar days, or consents in writing to a direct appeal to the Protest Committee.
6. A written protest that is filed with the Protest Committee shall:
(i) Meet the requirements of T.C.A. § 4-56-103;
(ii) Be delivered to the Chief Procurement Officer and the Comptroller of the Treasury; and,
(iii) Raise only grounds that were raised before the Chief Procurement Officer.
7. All protests, supporting documentation and the resolution or decisions thereof, shall be filed with and maintained by the Central Procurement Office in accordance with T.C.A. § 10-7-503.
8. A protester is required to exhaust his or her administrative remedies as provided by these Rules. The failure of an Aggrieved Respondent to timely raise a ground for protest in accordance with these Rules shall be deemed a waiver of the Aggrieved Respondent’s right to seek review of such ground before the Chief Procurement Officer or the Protest Committee.
(i) The final determination letter of a protest before the Chief Procurement Officer shall be reported to the Protest Committee and the Comptroller of the Treasury.
(ii) The final determination letter of a protest before the Protest Committee shall be reported to the Comptroller of the Treasury.

(3) “Responsive bidder” means a person who has submitted a bid which conforms in all material respects to all documents, whether attached or incorporated by reference, utilized for soliciting bids.

(2) “Responsible bidder” means a person who has the capacity in all respects to perform fully the contract requirements, and the integrity and reliability which will assure good faith performance; and

(a)(1) The commission or each commissioner sitting individually has exclusive jurisdiction to determine all monetary claims against the state based on the acts or omissions of “state employees,” as defined in § 8-42-101, falling within one (1) or more of the following categories:
….
(L) Actions for breach of a written contract between the claimant and the state which was executed by one (1) or more state officers or employees with authority to execute the contract; provided, that the group insurance agreements created pursuant to §§ 8-27-202 and 8-27-302 shall be considered contracts for purposes of this subsection (a) in order for the commission to determine insurance claims which have been previously rejected by the state insurance committee or the local education insurance committee;

(a) The board of claims:
(1) Has the authority, but is not required, to investigate and hear claims and make awards when appropriate in cases based on acts or omissions of state officers or employees where a claim does not fall within the jurisdiction of the claims commission under § 9-8-307(a). The board of claims shall not have jurisdiction over any claim arising under § 9-8-307(a), even though the claimant requests punitive damages and/or damages in excess of those set forth in § 9-8-307(e). No award shall be made unless the board determines that the facts would entitle the claimant to a judgment in action at law. Where the board determines to hear a claim, it may refer the claim to a designee for a hearing and written recommendation to the board on whether or not to make an award. If the recommendation by the designee is against an award or less than the amount requested by the claimant, the claimant shall have the right to an appeal to the board. The board may, in its discretion, hold a hearing or decide the claim on the record. All decisions of the board shall be final;

The number of evaluation committee members of a solicitation may vary but should consist of at least three (3) members, each of whom should have the technical expertise in terms of education, training and experience to aid the evaluation committee with respect to the technical aspects of the solicitation. If necessary, the solicitation coordinator should seek out State employees or consultants who can attend presentations and provide meaningful technical expertise to evaluation committee members. Only state employees may serve as evaluation committee members, but non-state employees with technical expertise that is helpful to the evaluation committee should be included as consulting, ex officio or non-voting members. Before the commencement of the evaluation process, the evaluation committee should attend evaluation training, review and familiarize themselves with the solicitation, applicable statutes, rules and regulations, Central Procurement Office Policy and this Manual. All Evaluation Committee members should understand the general solicitation requirements and the specific requirements of the subject solicitation. Only Evaluation committee members that have completed the requisite evaluator training are permitted to score responses.

(1) These Rules shall apply to all procurements and resulting contracts for commodities and services entered into by the various departments, institutions, boards, commissions, and agencies of the executive branch of government of the State of Tennessee (referenced herein as “agency”), with the following exceptions:
(a) Contracts of the Department of Transportation for construction and engineering which are made in accordance with the provisions of T.C.A. §§ 54-5-101, et seq.
(b) The University of Tennessee and the Tennessee Board of Regents college and university systems.
(c) Contracts to employ additional legal counsel for the State of Tennessee that are subject to the provisions of T.C.A. § 8-6-106 shall not be subject to these Rules. Contracts for the provision of legal services, consultation, or advice provided to beneficiaries of programs of the State of Tennessee and not directly provided to the State of Tennessee shall be made in accordance with these Rules.
(d) Interagency Agreements between two agencies of the State, where neither State Agency has the independent capacity to contract or sue or be sued, shall not be subject to these Rules. A contract between a State Agency subject to these Rules and a separate governmental entity with the legal capacity to contract and sue or be sued shall be reduced to writing, contain an adequate description of the duties of each party, a statement of the contract term, a statement of the maximum amount payable, and shall be drafted to comply with these Rules and Central Procurement Office Policy, unless otherwise provided by applicable law….

5. All protests allowed under this Rule shall first be filed with the Chief Procurement Officer. The Aggrieved Respondent shall have the right to file a protest directly with the Protest Committee, but only in the event the Chief Procurement Officer fails to acknowledge a protest within fifteen (15) calendar days of receipt of a protest, fails to resolve the protest within sixty (60) calendar days, or consents in writing to a direct appeal to the Protest Committee.

(a)(1) As used in this section, “local governmental unit” means and includes a county, city, municipality, special district, utility district, school district, authority or any other entity created or appointed by a local governmental unit of the state.
(2) For a purchase of goods or services, any local governmental unit may purchase goods or services through a competitive reverse auction process that allows offerors to bid on specified goods or services electronically and adjust bid pricing during a specified time period.
(3) This section shall not apply to:
(A) Construction services, other than those relating to maintenance, repairs and renovations, the cost of which is less than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000);
(B) Architectural or engineering services;
(C) New or unused motor vehicles, unless the motor vehicles are manufactured for a special purpose. “Manufactured for a special purpose” includes, but is not limited to, school buses, buses with capacity exceeding twenty-two (22) passengers used to provide public transportation, garbage trucks, fire trucks or ambulances; or
(D) New or unused construction equipment.
(b) The purchasing agent of the local governmental unit shall solicit bids by public notice inserted at least once in a newspaper of countywide circulation five (5) calendar days prior to the first day bids can be submitted. If the county in question has no newspaper with countywide circulation, the purchasing agent shall post notices on a public bulletin board in the county courthouse. The purchasing agent may also solicit bid requests by mail to prospective bidders or by distributing invitations to bid electronically via email or by posting on the entity’s website. All invitations to bid shall include a general description of the goods or services to be purchased and information related to the time and place of opening bids.
(c) In order to assure the fullest possible participation of small businesses and minority-owned businesses, a local governmental unit shall provide a mechanism either through the local governmental unit itself or through a third party, if a third party source is utilized to conduct the reverse auction, to facilitate participation of small and minority-owned businesses in a reverse auction.
(d) All bid responses received shall be made available publicly at the time and place identified in the invitation to bid. An award shall be made to the offeror determined to be the lowest responsible and responsive bidder at the close of the specified bid period. Each bid, with the name and address of the bidder, shall be recorded and the names of the bidders, the amounts of their bids and the name of the successful bidder shall, after the award, be open to public inspection. All bids should be preserved for a period of sixty (60) months.
(e)(1) Prior to the initial utilization of a reverse auction, the local governmental unit shall file a plan with the comptroller of the treasury. The plan shall indicate the technology to be utilized, whether a third party source will be utilized to conduct a reverse auction or auctions, a description of policies and procedures related to the implementation of the reverse auction process and documentation of internal controls that will ensure the integrity of the process.
(2) The plan shall also indicate whether such a process will be implemented within the existing operating resources of the local governmental unit or indicate prior approval of the governing body of the local governmental unit if additional operating resources are needed.