Part G - General provisons
13. Opening of tenders
- i) All electronic quotations / tenders with a value less than £30,000 shall be opened at one time by the Procuring Officer
- ii) All electronic tenders / quotations with a value in excess of £30,000 shall be opened at one time by a Corporate Procurement Officer
- iii) Paragraph (i) and (ii) of this Provision shall not apply to tenders / quotations obtained for the In-house Provider for the purpose of compiling a bid as tender for submission by the In-house Provider.
- iv) Paragraph (i) and (ii) of this Order shall not apply to tenders / quotations which are received through the execution of an e-auction. In such an event, the following will take place:
- a) The relevant Chief Officer will be advised of the e-auction event dates and times by the Corporate Procurement Team and arrangements made to accommodate relevant Officers at the live auction event should they wish to attend.
- v) The outcomes of all (written and electronic) quotations / tenders with a value in excess of £60,000 (Goods and Services) or £100,000 (Works) are to be recorded indicating:
- Contract Name and Reference number
- Description of Goods / Services being procured
- Department / Service area procuring the Goods / Services
- Bidders
- Prices (separate to Bidders details to preserve commercial confidentiality)
- Identity of successful Bidder
This information will be reported to the Finance and Corporate Affairs Committee on a quarterly basis
14.Tenders to be returned in sealed envelopes
- i) The Council’s principal method of procurement is by electronic means. Requests for Quotations and Invitations to Tender must be transmitted by electronic means using the Council’s e-procurement system unless the Director of Finance, IT and Digital authorises (in exceptional circumstances) the use of postal / hard copy tenders / quotations.
- ii) In the event that use of postal / hard copy tenders / quotations has been authorised, the resultant procurement documentation shall state that no submission will be received except in a plain sealed envelope which shall bear the word "Tender" - followed by the subject to which it relates - but shall not bear any name or mark indicating the identity of the sender. Envelopes shall be returned to the Chief Executive and once received shall remain in the custody of the Chief Executive or his/her nominee until the time appointed for their openings.
- iii) The Chief Executive shall keep a record of all postal / hard copy tenders / quotations received.
15. Agreed Marking Mechanism
- i) 16. No Price/Quality procedure shall be commenced unless there has been an Agreed Marking Mechanism developed.
Bidders shall be informed of the elements to be marked and of the comparative importance of each element as a percentage of the available marks.
16. Contracts to be in writing
- i) Every contract, other than those for goods / services which are classified as exempt, shall be the subject of a Council purchase order and shall specify:
- (a) the work, materials, matters or things to be furnished, had or done;
- (b) the price to be paid, with statement of discounts or other deductions; and
- (c) the time or times within which the contract is to be performed.
- ii) Where the value of the contract exceeds the financial limits which require a tender process or quotation exercise with a value in excess of £60,000 (Goods and Services) or £100,000 (Works) to take place (see Rule 7) the contract must be the subject of a formal written contract signed in accordance with Rule 18.
17. Liquidated Damages and Performance bonds
Every contract which exceeds £100,000 in total value or total amount over its lifetime and is either for the execution of works or for the supply of goods, materials or services, shall, unless the Chief Officer otherwise decides after consultation with the Director of Legal, Governance and Human Resources, provide for liquidated damages to be paid by the contractor in case the terms of the contract are not duly performed, and the Council shall also require and take sufficient security for the due performance of any such contract. In the case of any such contract for the execution of works such security shall be provided by requiring the retention of a proportion of the contract sums payable until the work has been satisfactorily completed and maintained and, unless the Chief Officer, after consultation with the Director of Legal, Governance and Human Resources considers it unnecessary in any particular case, additional provision of a bond for due performance.
18. Vetting and Signature of contracts
- i) Contract Vetting
- a) Contracts with a value in excess of £30,000 are to be referred to the Corporate Procurement Team for vetting.
- b) The Corporate Procurement Team must refer all contracts with a value in excess of £60,000 (Goods and Services) or £100,000 (Works) and which incorporate additional terms and conditions to those contained in the Council’s approved standard contractual documentation to the Council’s Legal Services Department for vetting.
- ii) Contract Signature
- a) Except for contracts entered into by an Officer in exercise of delegated powers, the Director of Legal, Governance and Human Resources shall be the agent of the Council to sign on behalf of the Council all contracts agreed to be entered into by or on behalf of Policy Committees or the Council.
- b) Contracts which are for a value of £100,000 or more shall be executed under the Council’s seal by the Director of Legal, Governance and Human Resources (or in his/her absence by a person authorised by him/her).
19. Tenderers withdrawal
- i) In the event of any person or firm withdrawing a tender / quotation, or declining to sign a form of contract upon being called on to do so after his/her or their tender / quotation has been accepted (whether accepted subject to the Council's approval or not), no further tender /quotation from such a person or firm shall, unless the Finance and Corporate Affairs Committee or the Council otherwise resolve, be considered for a period of three years.
20. Post contract variations and negotiations
- i) Except for a variation
- (a) which does not substantially affect the nature of the works services goods, materials or services to be supplied to the Council and does not increase the payment to be made by the Council, or
- (b) is made in accordance with paragraph (ii)
a contract shall not without the authority of the relevant Policy Committee or the Council depart from the description of the works, goods, materials or services for which the quotation or tender was received.
- ii) This paragraph applies where all of the tenders / quotations received exceed the budget allocated for the project and the Chief Officer and the Head of Service relevant to the contract consider that amendments may be made to the specification or procurement process which would result in a price in accordance with the budget. All those submitting tenders / quotes shall be provided with a schedule of variations / revised instructions and invited to submit a revised bid.
- iii) Apart from discussions with contractors for the purpose of clarification of any element of a tender / quotation, or for the correction of arithmetic or other details, (but NOT the resolution of any qualified bids) negotiations following receipt of tenders / quotations shall only take place in the following circumstances:
- (a) where a single tender /quotation or no acceptable tenders / quotations have been received and the Chief Officer considers that negotiation may lead to more favourable terms or an acceptable offer to the Council, or
- (b) when tenders /quotations cannot readily be evaluated and compared without discussion with those submitting the tender / quotation or
- (c) with the approval of the Director of Finance, IT and Digital and the Director of Legal, Governance and Human Resources and the Monitoring Officer (if different) and any negotiations shall be conducted in accordance with paragraph
- iv) Discussion with those submitting the tender / quotation for the purpose of negotiations under paragraph (iii) shall
- be attended by not less than 2 Council Officers
- be at a pre-determined time during normal office hours
- be the subject of a comprehensive written record, signed by the Council Officers in attendance and submitted to the Council’s Corporate Lead for Procurement for approval
21. Extensions to contracts
- i) In the event that an extension of the original contract period (the original contract period to include all extensions already allowed for in the original contract) is required, the decision to implement such an extension must be approved by the relevant Chief Officers and the Council’s Corporate Lead for Procurement.
Requests for a contract extension, as described above, must be documented using the template available on the Council’s intranet. On completion of the template, a copy must be sent to the Corporate Procurement Team. The request will be checked for completeness and passed for review to:- the Director of Legal, Governance and Human Resources or representative
- the Director of the Department requesting the exemption or representative
- the Director of Finance, IT and Digital or representative
- the Commissioning Officer requesting the exemption
In the event that the extension is requested on behalf of the Finance, Digital and IT Department, the request is to be reviewed by the Chief Executive.
- ii) In the event that a contract extension, as described above, represents a value greater than the applicable relevant procurement threshold, then the available extension period will be limited to a time or value as stipulated under the prevailing legislation (PCR2015 & PA2023) under which the procurement was undertake and the relevant notices established.