Competitive Tendering Process

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Project Management

Competitive Tender Process

Process objectives

The Competitive Tender Process is used for Strategic Supplies (value greater than £20,000) to ensure fairness and value for money. The process also aims to support the local North East economy.

The process is designed to allow GreySky to support our clients in the procurement of high value, complex and strategic services. The process has been developed to allow us to develop detailed specifications of requirements and fulfil these requirements efficiently to provide practical strategic solutions for clients’ projects.

The process follows the following key stages:

Identify outline requirements

The outline supply requirements are identified to detailed discussions with clients to agree requirements and to allow initial engagement with potential suppliers as a part of the development of practical solutions.

Identify potential suppliers

Potential suppliers are identified from published lists of public sector approved suppliers and other known contacts. Suppliers are identified to allow direct communication of the ITT when it is published (to encourage a strong response from credible suppliers).

Develop detailed requirements

Detailed requirements are developed to meet clear client objectives. These requirements will cover all aspects of the procurement and choice of supplier - including price and the key characteristics of the product/service and supplier to meet requirements.

Key potential suppliers may also be engaged in discussions to help shape the detailed requirements for the ITT. Key suppliers will be identified at GreySky’s discretion to fill specific gaps in knowledge.

The detailed requirements will be developed to form the ITT document. The ITT will include details of the following:

Detailed product/service requirements
Specific details of supplier requirements
Scope of requirement (timescales, location, etc)
Budget
Invoicing and payment details
Details for responding
Evaluation criteria, including short-listing criteria

Publish ITT

The Invitation To Tender (ITT) will be published on the main GreySky website (www.greysky.co.uk). Links will be provided (or the ITT published) on other websites as appropriate (client websites, key project partners, NECC, One NorthEast, etc). The potential suppliers identified earlier in the process will be prompted by email within 24 hours of publishing with a direct link to the ITT.

Potential suppliers will be required to accept the terms and conditions before they can access the ITT. Tenders will only be accepted from suppliers who have registered and accepted the terms and conditions.

Provide feedback to questions

Once the ITT is published, potential suppliers may ask questions by email. Questions will be answered as quickly as possible, but no guarantee of response time is possible. Questions and responses will be provided on the GreySky website. Potential suppliers must access the site to view the questions and responses. Neither direct email feedback nor prompts to view the site will be provided.

Receive tenders by due date

Tenders must be received by email or mail by the due date and time identified in the ITT. A follow-up hard copy or (electronic copy for mail responses) should be provided by the required date. It is the tenderer’s responsibility to ensure that tender documents are received on time.

The following addresses should be used:

Email: consulting@greysky.co.uk

Mail: Grange Corner House

Scots Gap

Northumberland

NE61 4EG

Evaluate

The responses will be evaluated against the criteria detailed in the ITT. Evaluation may be undertaken by GreySky alone if this is our client’s requirement. However, we will encourage our client’s representatives and other project stakeholders to be directly involved in the evaluation stage.

Where large numbers of responses are expected or received (10 or more responses) then an initial selection process may be used to identify potential suppliers with appropriate experience, expertise and commercial standing before a full evaluation of their responses. The details of the selection criteria will be included in the ITT.

Selected responses will be evaluated independently by the evaluation panel against the criteria identified in the ITT. If all members of the team agree on the preferred supplier then this will be deemed to be the final selection.

Where there is no clear agreement, then the panel will meet to discuss the evaluation in detail. The panel may either reach agreement, or may invite selected potential suppliers to present their proposals to the evaluation panel.

The evaluation panel will aim to achieve unanimous or strong consensus agreement of the choice of preferred supplier. However, it is acknowledged that this may not always be possible. In this case, the following restrictions may be applied:

Commercial risk

Where GreySky is liable to financial risks as a result of the procurement process then we retain the right to reject suppliers solely on the basis of commercial risk as a part of the selection process. This will be implemented where it is deemed that the potential supplier does not have the financial security or track record of delivery of similar products/services considered appropriate for the project. These selection criteria will be detailed in the ITT. If the bidder does not meet the selection criteria they will be identified as a “non-strategic supplier”.

Technical risk

If either GreySky or the client considers that a bidder does not have the technical capabilities to deliver then either party can reject the bid. These selection criteria will be detailed in the ITT. If the bidder does not meet the selection criteria they will be identified as a “non-strategic supplier”.

Inappropriate behaviour

If a potential supplier is found to behave inappropriately (for example offering bribes or other inducements to favour their bid, or interfering with other bids) or be suspected of previous inappropriate behaviour, then they will first be judged regarding their suitability as a strategic supplier. If the evaluation panel does not believe the bidder to be an appropriate strategic supplier then they will be identified as a “non-strategic supplier”.

Majority vote

Where a clear agreement is not possible then selection will be made by reducing the choice to a shortlist of three. The panel will then vote on the preferred supplier. The supplier with the greatest number of votes will be selected as the preferred supplier. Where two or more suppliers have the same number of votes then GreySky’s consulting director will retain the right to a casting vote.

Provide feedback

Following the identification of the preferred supplier, all bidders will be given feedback regarding the decision. Bidders will be offered further feedback if they require it.

Further feedback will include the marks awarded against the evaluation criteria and the average score awarded for the criteria. No further feedback will be given.

Where a supplier is identified as a “non-strategic supplier” they will be informed of this decision (if they request feedback). No further feedback will be provided in these cases.

Engage supplier

Following the evaluation, negotiations will be undertaken with the preferred supplier to establish a contract to supply. Where possible, a draft contract will have been provided with the ITT and the expectation will be that the supplier will simply agree the contract terms.

Some projects may include complex product or service requirements which mean it is not possible to provide a contract before identifying a supplier. In this case the contract negotiations should be undertaken as soon as possible following the identification of the preferred supplier. It is expected that the contract will be held between GreySky’s client and the supplier. GreySky can act as an intermediary to help the contract negotiation process. No “letter of intent” or temporary contract will be provided in advance of the final contract.

Manage delivery

Once the contract is agreed and signed, delivery will be conducted to meet the project requirements. GreySky will monitor project delivery against the agreed project milestones.

Payment will be agreed against key milestones and dates. Once it is agreed with the client that key milestone and schedule criteria have been met then the supplier will be prompted to invoice. Payment terms will be as agreed in the contract.

GreySky will undertake all management, monitoring and evaluation activities required by the client. The supplier will be required to support these activities fully.