For informal purchases (under $75,000) and Invitations for Bid (IFBs), awards are typically made to the vendor with the “lowest secure bid”: the lowest price that meets the department’s needs. Bids are primarily evaluated on price.
For RFPs and RFQs, other qualitative factors are as crucial to bid evaluation as price: experience, staff capacity and experience, methodology, creativity, and training, among others. The solicitation documents for each RFP and RFQ will detail how each of these factors will be evaluated by the bid committee. The award will go to the bidder that scores the best on the entire set of evaluation criteria.