How are proposals protected to ensure integrity during evaluation?

• A. Proposals are posted publicly after submission.
• B. Proposals are treated as confidential; price proposals are segregated and not disclosed to evaluators evaluating non-price factors until appropriate.
• C. Price proposals are shared with all evaluators for transparency.
• D. Proposals are destroyed before evaluation.

Answer: (B)

Protecting the integrity of the evaluation hinges on keeping proposals confidential and separating price information from non-price assessments. When price proposals are kept segregated and not shown to evaluators who are weighing non-price factors, the technical and qualitative aspects can be judged fairly and without price bias. This safeguards competition, prevents price data from unduly influencing the evaluation, and ensures that the final best-value decision is based on merit first, with price considered only in the appropriate stage.

Why the other approaches don’t fit: posting proposals publicly would expose sensitive information and undermine confidentiality; sharing price data with all evaluators contaminates non-price evaluations; destroying proposals before evaluation would prevent any meaningful evaluation process.