Renfrewshire Council

How to respond to a contract notice

If you see a council contract advertised that you or your company is interested in tendering for, you should lodge an official Expression of Interest. Details of how to do this will be given in the contract notice advert together with any deadline for completion.

What information you will need to provide when applying

The contract notice or advert will detail what procurement procedure is being utilised i.e. open, restricted, negotiated or competitive dialogue.

Each tender process will require the supplier to provide some or all of the following information and this will be specified in the notice:

Financial information

Details from each of the last three years may be required. Where requested, private and public limited companies must submit their fully audited accounts as registered with Companies House. Other suppliers should forward copies of financial statements, business plans or a certified statement of turnover. This information is assessed to ensure the company is financially stable enough for the contract in question. Other financial details, for instance; insurance cover, may also be required.

Equal opportunities

The council strongly supports equal opportunity laws, and requires all suppliers to comply with equal opportunities legislation. Suppliers will be asked to detail and possibly provide evidence of how equality issues are included in a company's employment practices.

Sustainability

Certain types of tender will ask for information in relation to sustainable procurement and this will generally relate to social, economic or environmental considerations, and may incorporate requests for information on community benefits that will be provided as part of the contract.

Health and safety

The council is committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for everyone it works with and for. Suppliers must provide information about their company's safety policies, operational safety procedures and risk assessments.

Experience and technical ability

The council needs to assess whether a company has the relevant experience, resources and technical ability to carry out the categories of work or to provide the type and quality of service required.

Suppliers should provide details of similar work carried out over recent years. They must also provide contact details of referees so that confidential references can be directly obtained by the council. Further details may be required for particular contracts.

How likely you are to win a Council contract

As long as certain criteria is met, such as financial stability, satisfactory health and safety environments and that services are provided to a high quality at a competitive cost, there is no reason why companies cannot attract business from the council. Renfrewshire Council applies fairness and equality of treatment in awarding contracts in line with achieving best value for citizens and the taxpayer.

How you can improve your chances of winning a Council contract

You need to clearly demonstrate that you can meet the required standards and service delivery requirements at the most economically advantageous cost.

How we evaluate a tender

The Council does not evaluate a tender purely on price. The Council is looking for the best balance of quality and price, not just the lowest price. Tenderers and their tenders will be evaluated according to a whole variety of factors including any of:

• financial viability
• quality
• competence
• experience
• technical merit and backup
• after sales service
• delivery date
• adherence to Council policies and protocols
• corporate social responsibility (social, economic and environmental factors)
• integrity
• innovation
• communication

We have an obligation to offer the best value for money services to its taxpayers and requires an exceptional standard of performance from its contractors and suppliers. Therefore, when selecting a supplier, the Council must ensure that the supplier will provide value for money, and that services will be delivered effectively.

In the list of evaluation criteria, cost and quality are usually the most important criteria. The Council however, is looking for the best balance of quality and price, not just the lowest price.

Details of the specific evaluation criteria and the relative weighting of the criteria are included in the tender documents that suppliers receive with the invitation to tender (ITT).

At any time during the tender process suppliers may be invited to give a presentation / product demonstration or attend a meeting/interview to aid the evaluation process. The Council may also conduct site visits to see first-hand how potential suppliers organise their work.

How contracts are monitored

The contractor will be expected to deliver or provide the service in accordance with the requirements set out in the contract papers and proposals on how to carry it out.

Suppliers and contractors working for the Council are regularly monitored to assess their compliance with predefined performance criteria. The contract conditions are strictly applied and explanations sought if a contractor fails to perform to the levels required.

What e-sourcing is

E-sourcing is the term applied to a process that uses web-based technologies and electronic communication networks for the pre-contract phases of the purchasing process.

Scope for negotiation

The principles governing use of the negotiated procedure have not changed and the scope for clarification of bids under the open and restricted procedures remains.

However, the competitive dialogue procedure enables dialogue with selected bidders for the purpose of refining the specification and contractual terms and conditions. It is intended to be used for complex contracts such as PFI where it is not feasible to optimise the specification or define contract terms and conditions without feedback from potential bidders.

The dialogue can embrace all aspects of the specification, including technical issues, and financial and legal structure.