Tender Portals and SystemsHow to find tenders via the myriad of portals and systems which abound in the public sector

Introductions

§ People– Richard Lafferty – Head of Estates Contracting– Rob Logan – Associate Director of Finance Operations and Procurement

§ Purpose–Demystify procurement portals and systems for the benefit of suppliers

§ Outcome–Attendees will have a clearer understanding of the various systems in use and how they fit into procurement processes.

Key Procurement Systems and Portals

§ Advertising Portals§ Tender Alerts§ Tender Portals§ Purchase to Pay (P2P) Systems

Advertising Portals

§Who needs to advertise?§ Tenders Electronic Daily (TED)– Publishes notices from the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU)– Thresholds:

ØGoods / Supplies: £118,133 (Central Govt.) / £181,302 (Other Contracting Authorities)Ø Services: £118,133 (Central Govt.) / £181,302 (other Contracting Authorities)ØWorks: £45,551,413 (all Contracting Authorities)

§ Contracts Finder– All notices sent to OJEU and lower value opportunities (thresholds £25,000)– Rules on advertising

Advertising (continued)

§ Both portals are used to advertise opportunities and notify the market of the conclusion of the process

§ Post-­Brexit – new portal to replace OJEU§ Portals may be used by any Contracting Authority – e.g. NHS, Local Authorities, Universities

§ May also be used by Procurement Consortia– e.g. Crown Commercial Service, SCAPE, SUPC, ESPO

How we advertise

§ Publish notices to OJEU (TED) and Contracts Finder via the Bravo Portal

§ Use Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) to classify products and services

Search Query: Transport

Search Query: Submarine Search Query: Vegetable

How we advertise

§ Publish notices to OJEU (TED) and Contracts Finder via the Bravo Portal

§ Use Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) to classify products and services

§ Notices should contain all the information (or links to) needed to assist supplier in deciding whether to tender

§ Example of a Contract Notice…

Tender Alerts§ Subscription based systems (usually paid)§ Some are linked directly to the tender portals – e.g. Bravo§ Others aggregate tenders from the various online portals§ Help to find relevant opportunities – 221 notices published in OJEU from UK on 25th June alone!

§ Caution: some subscriptions services summarise the information published;; therefore, always look for the source document.

§ The following are example services (these are not recommendations)– Tenders Direct: www.tendersdirect.co.uk/– Tracker: www.trackerintelligence.com/– The Construction Index: www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/

Tender Portals

§ Bravo (now known as Jaggaer) – used by University of Bristol§ Due North (aka ProContract)§ Proactis§ In-­Tend§ These systems can also provide alerts.

How we use the Tender Portal

§ Manage the process from advertising to award§ Includes Alerts to registered suppliers of new opportunities§ All documents uploaded to the portal, including

– Specifications, Contract Terms, Asset Lists, Assessment Guidance, and other key information

§ All three parts of the process built-­in– Qualification, Technical, Commercial – including assessment (scoring)

§ All communications built-­in– Issue of Invitation to tender, receipt of Tenders, Clarifications, supplementary information, invitations to site visits, post-­tender meetings etc.

How we use the Tender Portal (continued)

§ The system is fully auditable, it is a closed system and everything is date stamped.

§ Support is available (refer to the individual portal)

How your tender is evaluated

§ Selection and Award Criteria– Selection (backward looking) – test experience and technical capacity– Award (forward looking) – test quality of product / service and costs– No selection stage for below Threshold procurements

Selection and Award Criteria (above Threshold only)

Selection Criteria:Mandatory and Discretionary

Exclusions | Financial Standing | Insurance | Environmental

Management | Health and Safety Policies | Corporate Qualifications

| Previous Experience

Award Criteria:Service Delivery | Conformance to

Technical Specifications | Lead Times | Contract Management | Business

Continuity | Management of Staff and Sub-­Contractors | Risk Assessments &

Method Statements | Cost

How your tender is evaluated

§ Qualification (Selection Criteria)– All tenders will be checked to ensure that they pass the minimum selection criteria

ØOpen Procedures – Pass / Fail. Restricted Procedures – Scored– Not designed to trip you up–We need to ensure that suppliers only bid for contracts they have a fair chance of winning.– Open Procedure – all who pass go through to Technical Assessment– Restricted Procedure – Min. 5 go through to tender stage

How your tender is evaluated (continued)§ Technical (Award Criteria)

– Assessment of each technical question against the published award criteria– Most questions are scored, some may be Pass / Fail (absolute requirements – e.g. approach to Waste Management, Risk Assessments and Method Statements)

§ Commercial (Award Criteria)– Usually scored as: (Lowest Cost / Tendered Cost) x Weighting

§ Tenders may be further clarified through meetings, presentations or Q&A via the portal.

§ Technical and Commercial Scores are added together for final scores§ Final Due Diligence of winning bidder prior to award.§ Contract documents may be issued via the Portal

Purchase to Pay Systems (P2P)

§ Agresso (used by University of Bristol)§ Proactis§ SAP§ Oracle§ Used for raising orders and paying invoices

Discussion

§ Over to you…