Interview panel

(a) Each member of the interview panel shall review all documents concerning each proposal and design-build team or special legislation contractor, including, but not limited to, the original proposal, any documents submitted pursuant to section 4b-24-4 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies, and any information regarding past performance. (b) Prior to the start of the interviews, the panel members shall convene for a meeting for the purpose of ensuring that the members have a common understanding of the project, selection criteria, and the weights and rating scale to be applied in evaluating each design-build team or special legislation contractor. A maximum of two representatives from the agency, institution, school, or academy for which the project is being undertaken, who are not members of the panel, may be present for that meeting for the purpose of explaining the project and important design or construction factors. In no case shall such representatives comment specifically on any design-build team, design-build team member, special legislation contractor, or member of the special legislation contractor's construction team. (c) Following the pre- meeting set forth in subsection (b) of this section, the panel members shall interview each design-build team or special legislation contractor. (d) At the completion of each interview, each interview panel member shall independently evaluate the design-build team or special legislation contractor on the interview evaluation form, created pursuant to section 4b-24-8 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies, and indicate his or her scoring of such team or contractor for each of the selection criteria. No one other than a panel member may enter scores or comments on the form. Such forms shall be signed and given to the DPW chairperson after each interview. (e) If, for any criteria, there is any score that is not within one letter grade of all the other scores, or there is any score of "F," a discussion may occur between panel members. The panel members may adjust their scores following such discussion. If a score is adjusted, the panel member shall initial the change and state in writing on his or her form the reasons for changing the score. In no case shall a panel member change a score based on coercion or pressure. (f) After all interviews have been concluded, and all forms have been completed, signed and given to the DPW chairperson, the DPW chairperson shall tabulate the scores of all panel members and rank them according to their total scores, from highest to lowest; which ranking shall constitute the panel's recommendation to the commissioner. In the event of a tie, the tying design-build team or special legislation contractor given the highest total score by the user agency shall be ranked higher than the other tying team or contractor. (g) Each panel member shall submit to the commissioner the signed certification form required under section 4b-24-3(b) of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies (h) The commissioner may reject any recommendation from a selection panel if all forms required to be submitted pursuant to section 4b-24-3(b) of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies have not been submitted.