Tenders over £75,000

Choosing the correct Tendering Procedure

There are 6 tendering procedures. Your CPU Officer will discuss these with you to decide on the best procedure for your exercise. The procedures that we use most are the Open and Restricted procedures.

Open - All eligible applicants are invited to tender in a one-stage procurement process.

Restricted – A two-stage procedure. Any interested suppliers may submit a request to participate by completing a qualification assessment. Only eligible applicants who meet the authority’s criteria are then invited to tender.

Competitive Procedure with negotiation - This allows the contracting authority flexibility around whether to negotiate - it is possible to reserve the right (by stating this in the Find a Tender service (FTS)) not to negotiate and to simply award the contract based on initial tenders submitted.

Competitive Dialogue - Permits discussion of different options before choosing a particular solution. It can be used in complex contracts where technical solutions are difficult to define or where development of the best solution is wanted. This procedure contains more flexibility around negotiation with the winning bidder (provided this does not modify the essential aspects of the contract or procurement or amount to a distortion of competition).

Innovative Partnership – This process allows for the R&D and purchase of a product or service within the same single procurement process (with transparency and other safeguards built in to it).

Negotiated Procedure without Prior Publication – This is the least competitive and transparent process, and it should therefore be used only in rare exceptional cases.

Tender Timescales

You need to allow around 6 to 9 months for the entire tender process.

Preparing the tender for advertisement can take up to 3 months. All tenders now need to be available in both English and Welsh and therefore time for translation needs to be included.

For an Open procedure the minimum period for advertisement of the tender opportunity is 35 days. For a Restricted procedure the minimum period for advertisement of the Pre-Qualification stage is 30 days and for advertisement of the tender stage is 30 days.

• Timetable for an open e-tender (.xls)
• Timetable for a restricted e-tender (.xls)

Pre-Market Consultation

Market consultations can be conducted before starting a procurement exercise with a view to preparing the procurement and informing prospective tenderers of the procurement plans and requirements.

Please contact the CPU team for support on pre-market events.

Specification

The specification needs to set out exactly what you need including in your contract or framework. The specification template (.doc) provided can be used as a guide to help you write your document.

Ensure that your specification is SMART:

• Specific– Communicate the requirement clearly, concisely, logically and unambiguously.
• Measurable – Contains enough information for Tenderers to cost the Services/Goods or Works they will offer
• Achievable – Permit the offered Goods/Services or Works to be evaluated against stated criteria or standards
• Relevant – Fulfils the need, not over specifying or including “nice to have”
• Tight – Contains the essential features of the requirement

Tender Evaluation Panel

As Lead Officer, you need to establish a group of officers to undertake the evaluation exercise. The officers must be available throughout the process and should possess the necessary qualifications and/or expertise to advise you.

It is important that the evaluation panel need to understand the specification and agree to the quality questions and price criteria prior to advertisement.

Evaluation Criteria

The Evaluation Criteria should be based on the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT).

Evaluation Criteria must be based on at least 70% Price. Where this is inappropriate then the agreement of the Director of Corporate Services must be sought in writing.

Insurance Requirements

Insurance requirements for each exercise will need to be established. Evidence that the tenderers meet these requirements will be sought during the tender process.

Lead Officers must consult the Risk department to determine the correct levels of insurance required.

Health & Safety Requirements

Within the Qualification stage Health & Safety requirements will need to be considered. You will need to contact the Health & Safety department to discuss the level of questions required for your particular exercise.

Financial Requirements

Within the Qualification stage a Financial Assessment will be carried out by a member of the Finance department. You will need to contact Financial Services to discuss the level of questions required for your particular exercise.

Ethical and Sustainable Procurement

It is important that we consider environmental, social and economic issues in our procurement decisions. To help you with this you will need to carry out a Sustainable Risk Assessment with a member of the CPU.

Community Benefits, equalities, Welsh language and data protection must also be considered.

TUPE (Transfer Undertakings for the Protection of Employment)

If we are re-tendering an existing service and there is an incumbent supplier in place you must follow the below guidelines:

1. Issue the Provider Email (.doc) to the existing provider to confirm Tupe applies
2. Receive back from the Incumbent supplier the Detailed Employee Information (.xls)
3. Seek legal and HR advice on the implications for any transfer (if appropriate).

CPU will include information in the advert and the Tender details confirming Tupe applies and include a basic employee information spreadsheet. Tenderers wishing to see the Detailed Employee information will need to complete the Confidentiality Agreement in the Tender Pack. Upon receipt of a signed Confidentiality Agreement CPU will provide the tenderer with an anonymised Detailed Employee Information spreadsheet.

For Tenders where we are outsourcing an existing service area (which hasn’t been tendered previously) you will need to ascertain if any existing Council employees may/will transfer across to the new provider. If there is a potential for Tupe you will need to collate this information onto the  Detailed Employee Information spreadsheet template and seek legal and HR advice on the implications for any transfer. The CPU will then carry out the tender process to include Tupe implications as above.

Standstill

It is best practice at tender level that after the preferred supplier has been identified, all tenderers are informed of the intention to award and a 10 calendar day standstill period is then held, before awarding the contract. This is a mandatory requirement for all contracts above the EU threshold level.

You will need to decide whether you are including a standstill during the tender preparation and inform tenderers in the instructions document.

Advertising

All tenders need to be advertised on Sell2Wales. Your CPU officer will create a Contract Notice for you.

Tender Record Form

You will need to complete a Tender Record Form which will document the decisions taken for your procurement exercise and will be signed off by the Procurement Manager prior to the tender advert being placed.

Tender Evaluation Report

You will need to complete a Tender Evaluation Report during the tender process. It is best to start this at the beginning of the process, in order to record your decisions as you go along. This is a mandatory requirement.

Market Briefing

Market briefings maybe conducted once a Tender advert has been placed to inform prospective tenderers of the content and approach for the forthcoming tender. The engagement is intended for information purposes only and no questions relating to the specific tender submissions can be answered at the event.

The CPU team must be notified prior to any market briefing.

Evaluation Panel

Your Evaluation Panel will have been established during the tender preparation stage. Depending on the number of tender submissions and the number of quality questions asked the evaluation process can take from 1 to 5 days. Before the evaluation begins each Panel member must complete and sign the Conflict of Interest form (.doc).

The CPU officer will then open the e-tender with the Panel and go through the Qualification, Technical and Commercial sections.

Financial, Health & Safety, Insurance Assessments

Once the preferred supplier has been selected your CPU Officer will request that the preferred suppliers Financial, Health & Safety and Insurances are assessed by the relevant CCC Officer.

Once the preferred supplier has passed the Financial, Health & Safety and Insurance Assessments the award notification letters can be sent. It is recommended that all tenders hold a standstill period of 10 calendar days between communication of intention to award and final award notification. For Contracts above the Threshold holding a standstill period is a mandatory requirement. 

Your CPU Officer will provide template letters, which will include detailed feedback for unsuccessful suppliers.

Contract Management

After the Contract has been awarded you must appoint a Contract Manager who will manage the day to day aspects of the contract (this may, of course, be yourself). The Contract Manager is the link between ourselves and the supplier. They are responsible for the management of the contract and ensuring that the price paid is in accordance with the terms set out in the tender.

Contract Modification

If contracts need to be modified during the contract term a new tender process may be required. Please contact CPU to discuss the changes to the contract term and whether it is an acceptable modification or whether we will need to re-tender.

Contract Extensions

A contract may only be extended, if an option for an extension was included in the original procurement exercise.

If you are satisfied that the current supplier is still offering best value for money and is meeting all the contract requirements, you can extend the contract by completing the Contract Extension form (.doc), which needs to be agreed and signed by your Head of Service.