Depending on the estimated contract value, competitive bids must be obtained as follows:

• up to £499: minimum of one quote either verbal or in writing 
• £500 - £9.999: minimum of two quotes required in writing
• £10,000 to - £99,999: minimum of three quotes required in writing
• £100,000 to EU Threshold: at least three formal tenders
• over EU thresholds: EU tender procedures apply

(current EU thresholds: £5,336,937 for Works, £213,477 for Goods and Services)

Contract Procedure Rules allow the competitive bid procedure to be waived where the appropriate legal, commercial and operational conditions exist. Also, we may use existing public sector framework agreements, such as those set up by Central Buying Consortium, OGC and ESPO.

Tenders

Our Invitations to Tender (ITTs) will include the following elements:

• a specification, with plans or drawings, describing the requirement in sufficient detail to attract competitive bids which can be assessed on a comparable basis
• details of the selection procedure
• award criteria in descending order of importance, with weightings used in calculating a final score
• the general conditions of contract which apply, together with any special conditions
• the required programme of delivery

All bidders will be issued with the same information, at the same time, and on the same terms. Award criteria will not normally be changed after bids are invited, but should this become necessary all bidders will be advised of the revised award criteria and reasons for the changes.

All bidders must provide sufficient information to determine whether they:

• are financially stable and likely to remain so for the duration of the contract
• have the technical capability to meet contractual quality requirements
• have suitable health and safety, environmental, and equality and diversity records
• have sufficient staff resources and organisational infrastructure.

Tenders must be submitted electronically via our e-tendering portal In-Tend.

Our General Conditions of Purchase will normally apply, together with any Special Conditions relating specifically to the contract.

All tender opportunities will be advertised and, depending on value, can be viewed through the following links:

• Find a Tender for high value public sector contracts in the UK, usually above £118,000
• Contracts Finder for public sector contracts worth over £10,000 in England and with non-devolved bodies