{"id":5227,"date":"2026-03-20T02:05:48","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T02:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/procurement\/?p=5227"},"modified":"2026-03-20T02:05:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T02:05:49","slug":"procurement-circular-no-2026-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/procurement\/2026\/03\/20\/procurement-circular-no-2026-10\/","title":{"rendered":"PROCUREMENT CIRCULAR NO. 2026-10"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SUBJECT: USPS Postmark Procedure Change Affecting Mailed Proposals under HRS Chapter 103F<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Procurement Circular Summary (No. 2026-10)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <strong>State of Hawaii State Procurement Office<\/strong> issued this circular to notify agencies of a <strong>procedural change by the United States Postal Service (USPS)<\/strong> that affects how mailed proposals are evaluated for timeliness under <strong>Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 103F<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Key Change<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>USPS postmarks may now reflect the <strong>date mail is processed<\/strong>, not the date it is mailed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This can cause proposals mailed before the deadline to receive a <strong>postmark after the deadline<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Impact<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Proposal timeliness is determined by the <strong>USPS postmark date<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The change may lead to:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Late disqualification of otherwise timely submissions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Confusion among offerors<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Increased risk of procurement protests<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Guidance to Agencies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Agencies are advised to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"1\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Notify offerors of the USPS postmark change in RFPs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Encourage early mailing to avoid delays<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Clarify that the <strong>official postmark date determines timeliness<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Allow electronic submissions (e.g., email) when permitted<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use the State\u2019s e-procurement system (<strong>HIePRO<\/strong>, transitioning to Aloha eBUYS)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Bottom Line<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Agencies should <strong>clearly communicate submission requirements and promote electronic submissions<\/strong> to avoid issues caused by USPS processing delays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To view PROCUREMENT CIRCULAR NO. 2026-10 please see the link below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/urldefense.com\/v3\/__https:\/\/spo.hawaii.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/PC-2026-10_USPS-Postmark-Procedure-Change-signed.pdf__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!TdlGOoLOLcV6QWIYINaQ6Saf6U4jdUOmvbrPN516V5511Jxljb4AV4QzoyQcQxEQaWnLiLZ6K2AiDqjxgPE$\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/urldefense.com\/v3\/__https:\/\/spo.hawaii.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/PC-2026-10_USPS-Postmark-Procedure-Change-signed.pdf__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!TdlGOoLOLcV6QWIYINaQ6Saf6U4jdUOmvbrPN516V5511Jxljb4AV4QzoyQcQxEQaWnLiLZ6K2AiDqjxgPE$\">PROCUREMENT CIRCULAR NO. 2026-10<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SUBJECT: USPS Postmark Procedure Change Affecting Mailed Proposals under HRS Chapter 103F Procurement Circular Summary (No. 2026-10) The State of Hawaii State Procurement Office issued this circular to notify agencies of a procedural change by the United States Postal Service (USPS) that affects how mailed proposals are evaluated for timeliness under Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/procurement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/procurement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/procurement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/procurement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/procurement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5227"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/procurement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5228,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/procurement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5227\/revisions\/5228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/procurement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/procurement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/procurement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}