Procurement frequently asked questions

We use ITTs for contracts of £75,000 in value and RFQs for anything below this amount. The process and documentation reflects the risk and value associated with the procurement. A tender will likely have more complex requirements, be of higher value and therefore carry a higher risk. Having more comprehensive documents will help to manage these.

The Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) is where tender opportunities above the OJEU thresholds must be advertised. Tenders are advertised across Europe due to EU membership. This will not be used from 28 October 2024 onwards when the new procurement regulations come into effect.

We are committed to supporting local businesses, to help the economy of East Suffolk. We are unable to positively discriminate towards local businesses in our tenders as we must remain open, fair and transparent, however we run events, work partner organisations and produce guidance documents to help local businesses improve the quality of their submissions.

Engagement with suppliers before and during tender periods can take different forms such as:

• Supplier events advertised either on the Government’s contract site and/or the Council’s own sites and social media. This may be a presentation detailing the opportunity, a question and answer session or perhaps a workshop either via Teams or in person.
• Informal conversations bearing in mind the principles of fairness and transparency.
• Requests for Information sent to suppliers with specific questions to answer.
• Trade shows and networking.

Market Engagement is a great opportunity for suppliers to give and receive feedback and to better understand our aims and ambitions.

• Make sure that you read the documents and instructions carefully and clarify anything you do not understand.
• Take note of the weightings of the evaluation criteria and answer appropriately to that.
• If there is a Market Engagement event, this is a great opportunity to learn more about the contract.
• Make sure you have answered all the mandatory requirements.
• Give your best realistic price. We cannot renegotiate the price after the response has been submitted.
• Give evidence and examples of any relevant skills and experience in quality questions.
• Use feedback received from any previous failed bids.

Responses must be submitted by the time and date stated within the documents. Any late submissions are not able to be accepted.

Each RFQ and ITT has different weightings and evaluation criteria, so it is important that you take note of this. Some may be based solely on price, however most of our contracts are based on the principle of MAT (Most Advantageous Tender). This means that we will evaluate on the basis of best value for money. The standard weightings within a tender are 70% quality and 30% price.

Under the 2015 Public Procurement Regulations, approved supplier lists are not allowed to be held. We operate Dynamic Purchasing Systems for certain areas of the authority which are entirely online and subject to selection criteria.

No. Suppliers cannot be treated preferentially if/when a contract comes up for renewal. A new tender process will be run and offers will be based solely on the basis of what is contained within their submission.

We aim to make the procurement process as streamlined as possible. We are spending public money, so we have to be sure that the suppliers we are awarding contracts to are able to meet our requirements and standards. Response requirements will be proportional to the perceived risks involved.

East Suffolk Council and other public sector partners hold training days for suppliers to learn how to improve their bid responses and therefore have a better chance of winning a tender. Please contact us for more details.

A contract notice is a formal advertisement notifying suppliers of a contract opportunity or potential opportunity. This will be done via Contracts Finder and Find a Tender Service if the value exceeds the thresholds, as well as being advertised on our own website.