SECTION 160.1. Applicability

(a) Purpose. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an internal protest procedure to be used by vendors to address protests of procurements by the State Office of Administrative Hearings.

(b) Definitions. The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings:

(1) SOAH--The State Office of Administrative Hearings.

(2) Interested party or parties--Vendors who submitted bids or proposals for the contract or solicitation involved in the protest.

(3) Vendor--An actual or prospective bidder, offeror, proposer, or contractor aggrieved by a procurement action by the State Office of Administrative Hearings.

(c) Bid Protest by Vendors Related to Solicitation or Contract Award. A vendor who submitted a written response, or who is eligible to submit a written response, to a solicitation issued by SOAH may file a protest with SOAH's Chief Operating Officer or designee for actions taken by the agency on the following:

(1) the solicitation documents or actions associated with the publication of solicitation documents;

(2) the evaluation or method of evaluation for a solicitation; or

(3) the award of a contract.

Source Note: The provisions of this §160.1 adopted to be effective April 7, 2019, 44 TexReg 1713