Procurement Considerations

The Commonwealth Procurement Access & Solicitation System (Comm-PASS), is a Web-based solicitation posting and maintenance site administered by OSD. Comm-PASS is accessible to anyone interested in Commonwealth procurements.

A Request for Response (RFR), or solicitation, is drafted by a procuring department and must be used for all competitive procurements, unless legislative or statutory exemptions, including exemptions authorized under 801 CMR 21.00 if applicable, are met. This page includes the basic requirements for RFRs and links to RFR resources, including “How to Draft a Request for Response” and a sample RFR Template for use by Departments  .

The Operational Services Division follows a best value procurement philosophy. This means it is in the best interest of the Commonwealth for solicitation evaluation criteria to measure factors beyond cost. No one wants to save money on unit cost while encountering higher costs due to factors such as inferior quality, poor reliability, or complex administrative processes.

NEW: Small Business Purchasing Program (SBPP) required notification language: Executive Departments must include the following language in the Quick Quote Qualification field or Solicitation Description field when procuring non-construction goods and services valued between $5,000 and $150,000.