a) An evaluation panel shall consist of a range of qualified participants and subject matter experts in the areas to be evaluated, including for example technical, financial, and legal evaluators, who are all to contribute to the evaluation.
b) Members of the evaluation panel shall be unbiased and free from conflicts of interest. Members must also commit to being independent throughout the evaluation, maintaining confidentiality of the proceedings and their evaluation, and undertaking their duties in compliance with this Manual, the RFQ, and the evaluation instructions.
c) Each evaluation panel member must confirm in writing that he/she is free of conflicts of interest, will remain so throughout the evaluation proceedings, and will notify the appropriate parties in accordance with the conflict of interest provisions of this Manual. The evaluation panel members must also confirm their understanding of their evaluation responsibilities and that they will undertake their evaluation in a neutral, unbiased manner, evaluating each proposal only on its own merit and solely against the RFQ evaluation factors.
d) The evaluation panel shall request that a representative from NCP be appointed, by NCP at its sole discretion. NCP's representative will be appointed as a voting member of the Work Team's evaluation panel.