Contracts and tenders

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Types of tender procedure

The Council typically uses three types of tender procedure:

• open
• restricted
• negotiated (occasionally)

In an open tender procedure, we provide all suppliers who respond to an advertisement with tender documents.

The restricted tender is a two stage process where the Council invites interested suppliers to undergo an assessment before inviting them to tender. This may involve a pre-qualification questionnaire.

With the negotiated procedure, we approach one or more suppliers and negotiate the terms of the contract with them. There are strict rules concerning the use of the negotiated procedure, and very few contracts qualify. Such rules include reasons of extreme urgency; no response received to an open or restricted tender; or for technical, artistic or copyright reasons.

Our 'Guide To Procurement' below provides a brief overview of the quotation/tender process the Council follows when purchasing, as well as providing details of where opportunities will be advertised:

Guide to Procurement (pdf - 156KB)

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How to tender

1. Register your details on www.supply2.gov.uk - the council uses this website as a main reference point when conducting market research.
2. Monitor www.supply2gov.uk and Tenders Electronic Daily regularly for any relevant tender opportunities. To contact the department and express an interest, follow the instructions in the tender advertisement.

3. You will then be sent:

• a covering letter
• a Pre Qualification Questionnaire (restricted tenders only)
• the tender documents consisting of instructions to tenderers, contract terms and conditions, a specification, a questionnaire and offer sections.

To make sure your bid is considered, you must:

• provide all the information requested
• answer all questions accurately
• provide a response in the requested format
• return the documentation by the specified closing date to the stated address.

Returned tenders will be assessed against the evaluation criteria. Evaluation will focus on how the tenderer proposes to deliver the service or goods in relation to cost, service and quality. The balance between quality and price will be determined by the service or goods to be procured. In most cases, council contracts will be awarded on the basis of the most economically advantageous offer received.

Where contract value is below £139,893, the contract may be awarded as soon as the award decision has been made. The council will contact all tenders whether successful or not to advise them of the outcome . All contracts valued in excess of £139,893 need board approval before the contract can be awarded. Where the contract value is in excess of the European Union thresholds (currently £139,893 for goods and services and £3,497,313 for works contracts), the unsuccessful tenderers will be told of the outcome. The successful tenderer will notified that, subject to there being no challenge to the award decision, the contract will be awarded after a period of 10 days.


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