(1) If the commission grants approval of a conceptual proposal for further evaluation and review, within thirty days of the commission's approval the department shall provide public notice of the proposed project. This notice shall:

(a) Be published in a newspaper of general circulation and upon such electronic website providing for general public access as the department may develop for such purpose;

(b) Be provided to any county, city, metropolitan service district, or transportation district in which the project will be located;

(c) Be provided to any person or entity that expresses in writing to the department an interest in the subject matter of the unsolicited conceptual proposal and to any member of the legislature whose house or senate district would be affected by such proposal;

(d) Outline the general nature and scope of the unsolicited conceptual proposal, including the location of the transportation project and the work to be performed on the project; and

(e) Specify the address to which any competing conceptual proposal must be submitted.

(2) The department may also elect to deliver such notice directly to any person or entity the department believes may have an interest in submitting a competing conceptual proposal.

(3) Any entity that elects to submit a competing conceptual proposal for the proposed project shall submit a written letter of intent to do so not later than thirty calendar days after the department's initial publication of notice. Any letter of intent received by the department after the expiration of the thirty-day period shall not be valid and any competing conceptual proposal submitted thereafter by a private or governmental entity that has not submitted a timely letter of intent shall not be considered by the department.

(4) An entity that has submitted a timely letter of intent must submit its competing conceptual proposal to the department not later than one hundred twenty calendar days after the department's initial publication of notice under subsection (1) of this section, or such other time as the department provides in the notice. The competing conceptual proposal must:

(a) Be signed by an authorized representative of the proposer;

(b) Be accompanied by the processing fee for conceptual proposals required under WAC 468-600-230; and

(c) Include the information and be organized in the manner required of an unsolicited conceptual proposal under WAC 468-600-240.

(5) Any competing conceptual proposal that is received within the time provided in subsection (4) of this section must be forwarded to the evaluation panel as provided in WAC 468-600-310. The panel must:

(a) Evaluate the competing conceptual proposal under the criteria specified in WAC 468-600-310; and

(b) Determine whether the competing proposal(s) differ from the original unsolicited conceptual proposal in such a significant and meaningful manner that they should be treated as an original unsolicited conceptual proposal. If the evaluation panel believes that a proposal submitted as a competing proposal should be treated as an original unsolicited conceptual proposal and that it satisfies the requirements of WAC 468-600-240, the evaluation panel shall forward the proposal to the commission for preliminary review and approval under WAC 468-600-315, and the proposal shall thereafter be processed under these rules in the same manner as an unsolicited conceptual proposal. If the competing conceptual proposal is not to be treated as an original unsolicited conceptual proposal, the competing conceptual proposal will be reviewed by the evaluation panel as provided in WAC 468-600-330 through 468-600-350.