QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
All projects advertised for bidding via the Bid Express website at https://www.bidx.com will require questions to be asked using the Questions and Answers feature link displayed in the "Also Available" section of the proposal page.
Everyone will have the opportunity to ask a question and read through questions that have already been answered. Please note that individuals do not have to be a member of Bid Express to ask a question or read through questions that have already been answered.
Unless otherwise specified in the contract documents, Questions and Answers are for "INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY" and shall not be intended as an alternative to the amendment process. Please note that the District Construction Engineer where the project is located,should review all Question(s) and Answer(s) listed on BIDX for the project prior to the pre-construction meeting.
Any individual that communicates directly to the WVDOH personnel concerning an advertised project shall be directed to the Questions and Answers feature on the Bid Express website at https://www.bidx.com. No WVDOH personnel shall communicate any issues concerning an advertised project with anyone outside of the Agency.
Any WVDOH employee that fails to adhere to this policy may be subject to disciplinary action.
PROCEDURE
The Contract Analytics Coordinator and/or the Contract Process Manager of Contract Administration Division will review the questions asked via https://www.bidx.com (both Sections have Administrative rights on BIDX) on a continuous basis throughout a working day.
The Contract Analytics Coordinator and/or the Contract Process Manager, at a minimum, will forward the question asked to the Design Project Manager (PM) and the appropriate Regional Construction Engineer (RCE) for the District in which the project is located. The forwarded question's email will be sent from DOH.ProjectRFI@wv.gov and will have the subject line as "FW: This is Question # for Call Order # (Cl #) County, Project Name." If Contract Administration Division knows of other employees associated with the specific proposal,they should forward to them also in the same (single) email.
The PM will be responsible for the following:
- Confirming that the question asked is an appropriate and a valid question.
- Forwarding the question as necessary to subject matter experts, to most expeditiously answer the question being asked.
The PM should distribute the questions asked to the responsible parties and not answer without consulting the Engineer of Record. Throughout the process, the subject line for the question and answer email should remain consistent as described above.
The final answer shall be forwarded to the RCE for review and final approval. If the RCE deems that the answer needs modified, the RCE will inform the PM of the revision via email and explain why the change was necessary.
The RCE shall email the Contract Analytics Coordinator and/or Contract Process Manager at DOH.ProjectRFI@wv.gov with the official WVDOH response to the question asked. The answer from the RCE should say "ANSWER" and then followed with the answer all in bold. The Contract Analytics Coordinator and/or Contract Process Manager will then post the answer verbatim to the question asked via BIDX.
NOTE - It is not necessary or preferred for email discussions to include the DOH.ProjectRFI@wv.gov email. Only the initial Question from DOH.ProjectRFI@wv.gov to the PM and the final Answer from the RCE to DOH.ProjectRFI@wv.gov, should involve this email.
If the question asked was ruled an invalid and/or inappropriate question, the RCE shall email the Contract Analytics Coordinator and/or Contract Process Manager at DOH.ProjectRFI@wv.gov as such. The question will then be answered with the following statement "The WVDOH has determined that this is an invalid and/or inappropriate question; therefore, please submit a new question if you still have concerns pertainingto this proposal." Some questions ruled invalid and/or inappropriate may need deleted without receiving an official response from WVDOH if a private message to the sender is unavailable. This rule will help maintain the integrity of the system being used.
TIMELINE
Questions can be received via https://www.bidx.com up to the time of the posted Lettingwith no exceptions. Please note however, that some advertised projects may stipulate deadlines for questions being asked such as the case with Design Build projects. These stipulations do not eliminate the public from continuously asking questions up to the time of the letting via BIDX.
It is the intent of the WVDOH to issues all amendments no later than seven (7) calendar days prior to the posted letting date to modify the project, if necessary. Therefore,questions asked that require modification of the contract shall be addressed immediately and prior to twelve
(12) calendar days of the posted Letting.
Questions received three (3) working days in advance of a posted Letting should be answered prior to the time of the posted Letting.Questions received within three (3) working days of the posted time of Letting should be answered as time allows.
It is the intent of the WVDOH that if a question goes "unanswered" and the proposal for which the question was asked has not been "pulled" or "deferred" then the Contractor shall bid the said proposal "AS IS".
If a question was not answered prior to the posted Letting time and the project was Let, then the question will be answered as follows; "The project has already been Let."
POSTING
All valid questions received and answered will be made public via https://www.bidx.com for viewing by anyone.