Forum of Private Business: Tendering for Public Sector Contracts

Tendering for public sector contracts A quick guide for Forum members

MGTPSC001 JUN2016

www.fpb.org

Tendering for public sector contracts Looking for opportunities You can search for opportunities to sell goods or services to the public sector through any of the following: • the Digital Marketplace, where you can sell digital services through the G-Cloud and Digital Services frameworks • the Contracts Finder, which includes information about upcoming and ‘closed’ opportunities since 2010 Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own dedicated public sector procurement websites.

You can also find out about opportunities by: • looking for contract notices in newspapers and trade magazines • contacting the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI), which provides funding for new products • contacting your local Enterprise Europe Network • searching for high-value public sector contracts in other European Union (EU) countries on the Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) website

Approved supplier lists If You plan to regularly tender for government contracts it may be worth seeing if you can gain a listing on the relevant approved supplier lists. Many public sector organisations keep lists of potential suppliers for certain types of work, particularly low-value contracts. Contact your local council or go direct to the organisation you are interested.

Procurement procedures When dealing with government tenders there are usually a variety of procurement procedures that they will follow depending on the council or department you are dealing with, they will usually inform you of which procedure is being followed at the start of the process. They will usually be one of the following procurement procedures:-

An open procedure You’ll be asked to return a tender by a set date. All tenders will be evaluated before the contract is awarded.

This procedure is often used by local councils.

A restricted procedure This is a 2-stage process. In the first stage, interested suppliers are asked to fill out a questionnaire and a short-list is drawn up. In the second stage, the shortlisted suppliers are invited to respond to an invitation to tender (ITT). The tenders are then evaluated and the contract awarded.

Forum of PrivateBusiness

Visit fpb.org

A competitive dialogue procedure This procedure is used for more complex procurements. After a selection process, the buyer then negotiates with suppliers and invites chosen companies to put in a bid. Suppliers put in their tenders and the contract is awarded.

A negotiated procedure In this procedure, the buyer enters into contract negotiations with one or more suppliers.

Framework agreements If a public sector organisation knows they are likely to need particular goods or services, but are unsure about exactly what they’ll need or when, they may decide to set up a group of approved suppliers that they can use when necessary. This is called a ‘framework agreement’.

The organisation will invite potential suppliers to put themselves forward for the framework and choose the one(s) most able to do the work. Once the framework is set up, individual contracts are made throughout the period of the agreement. If there’s more than one possible supplier on the framework, a ‘mini-competition’ may be held to decide who gets the contract.

Framework agreements usually last for a maximum of 4 years.

The tendering process 1. Find out if you need to send an ‘expression of interest’ before you bid for a contract - this is an initial stage of the tendering process that helps buyers to see who’s interested in bidding and draw up a shortlist of possible suppliers.

2. You’ll get an ‘invitation to tender’ or a contract notice inviting you to bid for the contract if you’re put on the shortlist.

The price you offer in a tender will be binding if your bid is successful.

You can form a consortium with other suppliers to agree to work together to tender for contracts for public services.

Get feedback on unsuccessful tenders If you’re unsuccessful in a tender and want to find out why, public sector organisations must give you feedback within 20 working days if you ask for it.

Information about the contract is subject to the Freedom of Information Act. This means that you have a right to ask for detailed information about the bidding process, but you may have to pay for it.

Ask for a non-disclosure agreement You must say if any information in your tender is commercially confidential. If it is, then you might want to ask for a non-disclosure agreement.

Forum of PrivateBusiness

Visit fpb.org

Our expertise is your expertise For more information on how we can help your business with simply contact our helpline team on 01565 626001, visit our website www.fpb.org or email us marketing@fpb.org

Forum of Private Business Limited Ruskin Chambers, Drury Lane Knutsford, Cheshire WA16 6HA Registered in England and Wales: 01329000