Responding to Invitation to Tenders Michael Fowler Category Manager – Procurement Brian Davies Senior Procurement Officer

Invitation to Tender Sections within a typical Invitation to Tender that the County Council issues Process Overview Form of Contract Service Specification Background Information Pre-Qualification Questionnaire or General Questionnaire Technical Response (Method Statement) Commercial Offer

Sections within a typical Invitation to Tender that the County Council issues Process Overview The process overview has the title and reference details of the Invitation to Tender. This documents tells you who is looking to buy the goods or service. This may indicate other Local Authorities or public sector bodies other than just Nottinghamshire County Council. The document will give you instructions on completing the Invitation to Tender and will give you a timeline for the project. The most important date to consider is the Invitation to Tender Response Date and time. Late tenders will not be accepted. Read through the details as this will tell you how to submit your tender and how we will evaluate your tender.

Form of Contract The Form of Contract are the Terms and Conditions in which we will operate with the awarded provider. Both parties are required to sign this Form of Contract. Service Specification The service specification tell you what we want to commission. It will tell what we expect from you as a provider and also what our responsibilities are to you. If you have any questions or queries with this document you will need to ask, ultimately this is what you will be required to provide. Background Information We may provide some background information covering some historic value and volume details and references to any legislation which apply to the contract.

Pre-Qualification and General Questionnaire Depending on what procurement procedure we follow you will be required to complete the PQQ or General Questionnaire. This is essentially the same document asking you the same questions. With the exception of section 7 all the other sections use the same questions for whatever we are looking to buy either goods or services. Not all the sections may be included but they are as follows: Section 1 Supplier Information Section 2 Mandatory Grounds for exclusion Section 3 & 4 Discretionary Grounds for exclusion Section 5 ‘Self Cleaning’ suppliers can provide evidence of how they have rectified any of the exclusion issues in section 3 & 4 Section 6 Economic and Financial Standing Section 7 Technical and Professional Ability which may include project specific questions Section 8 Declaration

Pre-Qualification and General Questionnaire This is used to assess your suitability to deliver the authority’s contract requirements. Please ensure that all questions are completed in full. Refer to the Process Overview which clearly states what will constitute a pass or a fail. If you fail any of the questions your bid will not proceed. This is known as Selection Criteria. Questions are Backward Facing, we are not looking for how you are going to perform the contract here so only respond to the questions you are being asked. We use an online form where you will enter your answers into the fields shown within Due North our electronic tendering portal. Keep a copy of this as for whatever contract you bid for in the future the same questions will be asked. In the future there will be the European Single Procurement Document which will work as a self-declaration document which you keep updated and is available online negating the need for you complete a separate PQQ or General Questionnaire for every contract you want to bid for.

Technical Response (Method Statement) The Process Overview document will tell you how we are going to evaluate your tender submission. As a general rule we evaluate both quality and price. The technical response covers the quality criteria. There will be a series of questions which will be weighted individually. The higher the weighting shows you which question and the answer you give is more important to the Authority. We are looking for how you are going to provide the goods or services here so these are Forward Focussed. Before you write anything read through the Specification because this tells you what we are looking for, focus your answer on what we want. This section is where many suppliers can let themselves down which often means not winning the contract.

Technical Response (Method Statement) Some issues we find when evaluating responses. Providers known to the authority, may be already providing goods and services to a good standard presume we take this into account. We don’t, you have to tell us what you will do to provide a good service Responses may be exceptionally well written providing a lot of detail, but is not relevant to the question being asked Questions not answered because the supplier does not think it is relevant to them The answer tells us what has been provided in the past and what has been done previously rather than focussing on what the supplier will do Answers that do not give any detail Suppliers not telling us why and how they would be the best to provide the goods and services over and above anyone else

Technical Response (Method Statement) Think about the people reading and scoring your answer. Structure it so they can easily understand what you are telling them, why not provide some evidence or examples? Remember this is your opportunity to tell us how you are going to provide the service to Nottinghamshire County Council. This is a typical scoring matrix we follow:

Technical Response (Method Statement) Some examples to consider. How do you think these could be scored? (Food Based Service) Qu Please tell us how you will ensure there is a varied selection of goods taking into account individuals likes and dislikes? AnswerThey want it we will get it. (Care Services) QuPlease describe the reports you could provide so the commissioners can monitor the volume of service users seen per month with details of what they are accessing the service for. AnswerWe are able to provide many different types of reports.

Commercial Offer This is where we will ask you to submit your price for the goods or service. There may be a separate document attached such as an excel spreadsheet, or there could be a field to complete with the electronic portal. Don’t be put off by the number of documents or attachments provided in the Invitation to Tender, read through all the information so you fully understand what we are looking for.

Most common tendering mistakes Incorrect Cost Schedules Incorrect Formatting, Presentation & Non Conformance Questions Missed / Unanswered Not Understanding Questions / Incorrect Assumptions Not giving confidence that yours is a professional organisation Lack of Understanding of Customer’s Business Missing Information

Any questions?