restricting the disclosure and use of data in the proposal. Subpart 9-3.150 sets forth the policies and procedure pertaining to the marking and handling of proprietary data and privileged business information. ERDA regulations with regard to the avoidance of organizational conflicts of interest (see Subpart 9-1.54) shall apply with regard to the making of awards on the basis of unsolicited proposals, the administration of contracts, or other arrangements resulting from such awards, and any evaluation of proposals which ERDA decides to have made either outside the Government or by the contractor organizations operating and managing ERDA facilities, including the competitive relationship, if any, between the proposer and the prospective outside evaluator. In addition, if the proposal under consideration expressly indicates that only Government evaluation is authorized and evaluation outside the Government is nevertheless desired, the proposer should be advised that ERDA may be unable to give full consideration to the proposal unless the proposer consents in writing to having the proposal evaluated outside the Government.

$9-4.950 Notice of program interest.

(a) The notice of program interest can be used to stimulate the flow of unsolicited proposals. Each program office may publish periodically a listing of broad, general, technical problems and areas needing investigation.

(b) The "notice" should contain, but is not limited to, the following:

(1) a number assigned by program office for control and reference purposes;

(2) a brief description of the broad general technical program or areas needing investigation (generally 50 words or less); (3) restrictions, if any, as to who may submit proposals; (4) a contact (name and telephone number) within the program or division, where additional information may be obtained; (5)

office

an expiration date, as needed;

(6) a statement that ERDA reserves the right to support or not to support any or all proposals in whole or in part;

(7) as appropriate, a statement that ERDA assumes no responsibility for any costs associated with specific proposal preparation. Except, where applicable, ERDA will pay its allocable share of bid and proposal expenses as provided for in the FPRS and ERDA-PRs;

(8) number of proposal copies required and address of the receiving office to which proposals should be mailed.

(9) a reference that detailed information concerning contracting policy and procedures is contained in the ERDA-PR, copies of which are available from the Division of Procurement, Rm. C-167, US ERDA, Washington, D.C. 20545.

(c) The content of the notice should be consolidated for publication at the responsible official level and should be in the format that best reflects the needs of a specific office, e.g., letter, booklet, bulletin, or related documents.

(d) The notice should be distributed widely. It may be distributed to industry, associations, including small business associations, schools, colleges and universities, appropriate professional and scientific journals, other ERDA offices, as well as individuals and organizations who request copies on a one-time basis. Copies of the notice are to be sent to the senior procurement official, Headquarters.

(e) The submission of other innovative methods, approaches or ideas is not to be restricted to only those problems or technical areas published in the notice of program interest.

$9-4.951 Cost participation.

Subpart 9-4.59, which outlines ERDA's cost participation policy, shall be followed in determining the extent to which ERDA will participate in the cost for the proposed effort.

$9-4.952 Patents.

Policies and procedures on patents, data, and copyrights are contained in ERDA-PR 9-9.

$9-4.953 Responsible prospective contractors.

Notwithstanding the decision to accept an unsolicited proposal, organizations and individuals are subject to the policies concerning the responsibility of prospective contractors set forth in Subpart

9-1.12.

$9-4.954 Unsolicited proposals for commercial demonstrations.

(a) When a received document otherwise qualifies as an unsolicited proposal, but its substance is generally known and may be obtained without restriction by formal competitive solicitation or

program opportunity notice, or its substance closely resembles that of a pending formal competitive solicitation or program opportunity notice, ERDA's policy of obtaining competition applies.

(b) Unsolicited proposals for nonnuclear energy demonstration activities not covered by existing formal competitive solicitations or program opportunity notices should be prepared using the information requirements of $9-4.5702-5 as a guideline; may request Federal assistance or participation and shall be subject to the cost sharing provisions of $9-4.59.

(c) The responsible program official shall assign a project officer and such other personnel as necessary to evaluate each unsolicited proposal, and to recommend whether the proposal should be supported. Unsolicited proposals for demonstration projects will be evaluated in accordance with:

(1) the Federal support criteria set forth in §9-4.5702-3(a)

through (i);

(2)

the evaluation criteria set forth in §9-4.5704(c); and (3) the evaluation criteria set forth in $9-4.901.

Subpart 9-4.10 Architect-Engineer Services

$9-4.1000 Scope of subpart.

This subpart contains ERDA policies and procedures for the procurement of professional architect-engineer services by contract. The requirements of this subpart do not apply to the procurement of professional architect-engineer services by ERDA contractors.

$9-4.1001 General policy.

Pursuant to the FPR of this title it is the policy of the ERDA to publicly announce all requirements for architect-engineer services, and to negotiate contracts for architect-engineer services on the basis of demonstrated competence and qualification for the type of professional services required at fair and reasonable prices.

$9-4.1002 Definitions.

The term "discussions" includes telephone conversations, exchange of correspondence, or interviews. The term "interview", as used in FPR 1-1.1003-7(b)(9), Note 63, means "discussions" as defined above.

$9-4.1003 Public announcements.

To ensure the broadest publicity concerning ERDA's interest in obtaining architect-engineer services, a notice of intention to contract for architect-engineer services shall be prepared and published for each procurement of architect-engineer services, in accordance with the requirements of FPR 1-1.1003-3(c) and (d) and 1-1.1003-7(b)(9).

$9-4.1004 Selection.

§9-4.1004-1 Establishment of architect-engineer evaluation boards. Architect-engineer evaluation boards will be used for the selection of professional architect-engineer services when the estimated cost of the contract is $500,000 or more. Except as provided by this subpart, the use of architect-engineer evaluation boards shall be governed by the general policies and procedures contained in FPR 1-4.1004-1 and 1-4.1004-2 and the policies and procedures contained in internal ERDA management directives concerning the selection of such contractors by board process. These policies and procedures are also applicable to the selection of architect-engineers for procurements of less than $500,000. However, less formal procedures and practices may be followed, depending upon the circumstances in each particular selection, at the discretion of the selecting official. ERDA-PR Part 9-51 sets forth administrative requirements for the review and approval of certain contract actions. When Headquarters approval of the selection is required, the solicitation, selection criteria weights, back-up supporting the selection and other information and documents as may be requested, are to be submitted.

§9-4.1004-2 Evaluation criteria

Contracting officers or architect-engineer evaluation boards shall apply the evaluation criteria contained in this subsection, as appropriate, and any special criteria developed for individual selections. When special and additional criteria are to be used, they shall be set forth in the public announcement required by Section 94.1003, and a written justification for their use shall be placed in the ERDA file maintained for the project.

(a)

members;

General qualifications, including:

(1) Reputation and standing of the firm and its principal

(2) Experience and technical competence of the firm in comparable work;

(3) Past record in performing work for ERDA, other Government agencies, and private industry, including projects or contracts implemented with no overruns; including performance from the standpoint of cost including cost overruns (last 5 years); and the nature, extent, and effectiveness of contractor's cost reduction program; quality of work; and ability to meet schedules including schedule overruns (last 5 years) (where aplicable);

(4) The volume of past and present workloads;

(5) Interest of company management in the project and expected participation and contribution of top officials;

(6) Adequacy of central or branch office facilities for the proposed work, including facilities for any special services that may be required;

(7) Adequacy of the firm's accounting system;

(8) Geographic location of the home office and familiarity with the locality in which the project is located; and

(9)

Willingness to grant the Government principal or exclu

sive rights in resulting inventions.

(b) Personnel and organization.

(1) Specific experience and qualifications of personnel proposed for assignment to the project, including, as required for various phases of the work, (i) technical skills and abilities in planning, organizing, executing, and controlling; (ii) abilities in overall project coordination and management; and (iii) experience in working together as a team;

(2) Proposed project organization, delegations of responsibility and assignments of authority;

(3) Availability of additional competent, regular employees for support of the project and the depth and size of the organization SO that any necessary expansion or acceleration could be handled adequately;

(4) Experience and qualifications of proposed consultants and subcontractors; and

(5) Ability to assign an adequate number of qualified key personnel from its own organization, including a competent supervising representative.