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<br />further participation. Neither the County Attorney nor any assistant county <br />attorney shall be subject to this subsection or prohibited from engaging in ex <br />parte communications with the hearing officer. <br /> <br />16. The purpose of this policy is to promote fairness and public <br />confidence in the competitive bidding process. To further such end, and <br />except as otherwise specifically provided herein, the substantive law <br />governing the resolution of bid protests found in the decisions of the Florida <br />appellate courts, as well as any statutes or agency rules that may be <br />applicable to the particular bid solicitation, shall guide the hearing officer <br />and the Board in rendering a decision on a bid protest under this section. <br />The significant principles of law governing the bid protest and the resolution <br />thereof, which shall prevail to the extent not otherwise in conflict with any <br />governing statutes or agency rules, are as follows: <br /> <br />a. The burden is on the party protesting the award of the bid to <br />establish a ground for invalidating the award. <br /> <br />b. The standard of proof for the protest proceeding shall be whether <br />the proposed award was clearly erroneous, contrary to competition, <br />arbitrary, or capricious. <br /> <br />c. The proposed award shall be deemed arbitrary or capricious if it is <br />contrary in a material way to any governing statutes, the County's <br />rules or policies, or the bid or proposal instructions or specifications. <br /> <br />d. The scope of the inquiry is limited initially to whether the proposed <br />award is improper under the foregoing standard of proof. If and only <br />if the hearing officer first determines on the basis of competent and <br />substantial evidence that the proposed award is improper, then the <br />hearing officer may recommend, in accordance with the law and this <br />policy, an alternate disposition for the proposed award. Such <br />disposition may include, but shall not be limited to, rejecting all bids, <br />or awarding all or a portion of the bid to the protesting party. <br /> <br />e. A bid protest proceeding may not serve as a vehicle for the Board <br />to revisit the proposed award absent a determination of impropriety as <br />set forth above. <br /> <br />32 <br /> <br />.~ <br />