When you apply for a contract opportunity?
Prospective suppliers and service providers are required to respond to the contract advertisement and provide the requested information. The submitted information will be used in the pre-qualification process to short list prospective candidates to be invited to tender.
A tender invitation pack will consist the following:
- Letter of Invitation- tells you when and where tenders should be submitted.
- Instructions to Tenderers- provides guidance for completing the tender documentation, advises how the tender submission will be evaluated and the contract awarded.
- Specification- sets out what needs to be achieved including policies, procedures or guidelines to be followed. It sets out the performance standards and the outcomes expected.
- Terms and Conditions of Contract- defines how Southampton City Council will let contracts, the rules tenderers must comply with and the relationship between the Council and the successful contractor.
- Form of Tender- a company's agreement to the terms and conditions of tender.
- Pricing Document- the document where all prices are entered.
- Quality Requirements/Method Statement Questions- questions about how a company intends to provide the service including supporting evidence demonstrating relevant experience. This will be used to help evaluate the quality of the bid. A company will be expected to demonstrate its commitment to the Council's policies as outlined in the documentation and supporting information in its responses.
- Pre-addressed tender return envelope label- states the time and date by which the tender must be returned. After this time, tenders will not be considered.
- Any relevant supporting information.
Tender evaluation and contract award: returned tenders will be evaluated against the pre-determined criteria. Evaluation will focus on examining how the tender proposals will deliver the service (quality) and the cost of the service (price). The balance between quality and price will depend on the particular service area.
Normally the Council will award the contract on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender. The successful tenderer will be notified in writing by letter.
Debriefing - within the limits of commercial confidentiality, the Council will always endeavour to offer unsuccessful tenderers feedback to find out why their bid has failed. This information can be used to help with any future bids: being unsuccessful in one contract does not mean that a company will be unsuccessful in future.
Last updated: 1 February 2008
