§103D-310  Responsibility of offerors. (a)  Unless the policy board, by rules, specifies otherwise, before submittingan offer, a prospective offeror, not less than ten calendar days prior to theday designated for opening offers, shall give written notice of the intentionto submit an offer to the procurement officer responsible for that particularprocurement.

(b)  Whether or not an intention to bid isrequired, the procurement officer shall determine whether the prospectiveofferor has the financial ability, resources, skills, capability, and businessintegrity necessary to perform the work.  For this purpose, the officer, in theofficer's discretion, may require any prospective offeror to submit answers,under oath, to questions contained in a standard form of questionnaire to beprepared by the policy board.  Whenever it appears from answers to thequestionnaire or otherwise, that the prospective offeror is not fully qualifiedand able to perform the intended work, a written determination of nonresponsibilityof an offeror shall be made by the head of the purchasing agency, in accordancewith rules adopted by the policy board.  The unreasonable failure of an offerorto promptly supply information in connection with an inquiry with respect toresponsibility may be grounds for a determination of nonresponsibility withrespect to such offeror.  The decision of the head of the purchasing agencyshall be final unless the offeror applies for administrative review pursuant tosection 103D-709.

(c)  All offerors, upon award of contract,shall comply with all laws governing entities doing business in the State,including chapters 237, 383, 386, 392, and 393.  Offerors shall producedocuments to the procuring officer to demonstrate compliance with this subsection. Any offeror making a false affirmation or certification under this subsectionshall be suspended from further offerings or awards pursuant to section103D-702.  The procuring officer shall verify compliance with this subsectionfor all contracts awarded pursuant to sections 103D-302, 103D-303, 103D-304,and 103D-306; provided that the attorney general may waive the requirements ofthis subsection for contracts for legal services if the attorney generalcertifies in writing that comparable legal services are not available in thisState.

(d)  Information furnished by an offerorpursuant to this section shall not be disclosed to any person except to lawenforcement agencies as provided by chapter 92F. [L Sp 1993, c 8, pt of §2; amL 1997, c 352, §§10, 23; am L 2003, c 52, §6; am L 2004, c 216, §4; am L 2005,c 211, §1]