11. Submission and Opening of Tenders

11.1

An Invitation to Tender shall be issued by the Council for all contracts over £75,000 and tenders shall be submitted in accordance with the requirements of the Invitation to Tender.

11.2

Any tenders received (other than those received electronically, to which 11.3 shall apply) shall be:

11.2.1	addressed to the Democratic Services Manager
11.2.2	in a sealed envelope marked “Tender” followed by the subject matter to which it relates
11.2.3	kept in a locked cabinet by Democratic Services
11.2.4	retained unopened until the date and time specified for its opening.

11.3

Where the Council has indicated in the Invitation to Tender that a tender can or must be submitted electronically, then those tenders shall be:

11.3.1	addressed to the e-mail address as notified in the Invitation to Tender
11.3.2	in the format specified in the Invitation to Tender
11.3.3	stored in a secure mailbox, which requires a code or other appropriate security measure, to open it
11.3.4	retained unopened until the date and time specified for its opening.

11.4

No tender received after the time and date specified for its opening shall be accepted or considered by the Council unless the relevant Service Manager is satisfied that there is sufficient evidence of the tender having been dispatched in time for it to have arrived before the closing date and time, or other exceptional circumstances apply, and the other tenders have not been opened.

11.5

Where Tenders are expected to have a value in excess of £75,000, invitations to the opening of these tenders will be sent to the appropriate Portfolio Holder or another Cabinet Member, and the appropriate Shadow Portfolio Holder or another Shadow Cabinet Member, a Procurement Officer, one responsible officer nominated by the relevant Service Manager and a Democratic Services Officer to undertake the completion of the Record of Receipt of Tender Document of tenders received including names and addresses and the date and time of opening. In circumstances where both Portfolio/Cabinet member and/or, both Shadow Portfolio/Cabinet members are unable to attend, opening of tenders can and should be undertaken in presence of officers and at least one substitute Member to ensure procurement programme is maintained

11.6

The tender opening process is set out in detail at Appendix 1 to these contract standing orders.

CSO 11

1

Tender processes must be undertaken in an open and transparent way and explained to tenderers so that they understand what you are doing, why and when.

2

CSO.11.1 - All contracts over £75,000 must involve a formal advertisement and invitation to tender process. All contracts above the EU Rules thresholds must also comply with the detailed EU Rules applying to the conduct of the tender process. These may differ according to the type of process used.

3

The invitation to tender should, as a minimum, include:

Instructions to tenderers which set out when and how tenders must be submitted, in what format and where queries should be addressed to at the Council.
The specification/technical details of the subject matter of the contract.
The contract terms and conditions which will apply.
The tender evaluation criteria.
The process for awarding the contract.

4

Invitations to tender should be written in plain language and avoid the overuse of unnecessary technical terms.

5

CSO 11.2: All tenderers must be treated in the same way; hence the requirements that the tenders are all presented in a similar manner when submitted to the Council by the tender return date. Tenders are to remain unopened until the date and time specified for opening so that, for example, there is no potential for an early tender to influence the process.

6

CSO 11.3: The same reasoning as for CSO 11.2 underlines the provisions relating to electronic submission of tenders.

7

CSO 11.4: Late tenders should normally be rejected unless (1) late delivery is a result of actions outside the control of the tenderer or (2) other exceptional circumstances exist which the Council, in exercising reasonable discretion, deems sufficient to allow acceptance. Where a decision is made to accept a late tender, then it is sensible to document the time of receipt of that tender and the reasons why the tender has been accepted.

Practical examples of the sort of circumstances where late tenders may on occasion be accepted include:

Where the Council's offices were unexpectedly closed at the date specified for receipt of tenders so that tenders could not be delivered on time.

Particularly severe weather which may have delayed the arrival of a tender sent by courier but where there is clear evidence of dispatch with sufficient time allowed for delivery to comply with the tender return time and date.

Where a tender has not been received at all but there is genuine and persuasive evidence that the tender was prepared and dispatched on time.

8

CSO 11.5: There needs to be a clear audit trail of all tenders received, from whom and when they are opened, to ensure that there is no preferential or unfair treatment. The tender opening process is set out in detail at Appendix 1 to these contract standing orders.

9

What happens if tender processes do not go as planned or if there is technical non compliance? The Council's standard "Invitation to Tender" document should include provisions stating that tenders can be rejected if they are not compliant with the requirements of the Council, including compliance with submission dates, times and format. Where a tender is received which is non compliant because, for example, the envelope is not marked as required, then, subject to any limitations in the Scheme of Delegation, the Responsible Officer (or Senior Manager where appropriate), may exercise some discretion in terms of whether or not that tender is accepted. Similarly, where there is provision for this in the Invitation to Tender, if after undertaking an initial review of the tender documents, the Responsible Officer is of the view that a genuine mistake, such as a mathematical error has been made in the tender, then the Responsible Officer (or Senior Manager where appropriate) may wish to exercise discretion and go back to the affected tenderer to clarify the submission made. If you wish to exercise this type of discretion, you should ensure that this falls within your delegated powers and you should take advice from Legal Services. All exercises of discretion should be carefully recorded in writing, including reasons why the discretion was exercised.

10

Where tenders are submitted electronically or by other digital media, then the Council should have in place, appropriate systems to ensure that receipt can be clearly recorded to ensure that tender timescales are complied with. Again, the Responsible Officer (or Senior Manager where appropriate) may exercise discretion as to whether or not to receive and accept tenders which are not submitted strictly in accordance with these requirements, although exercise of that discretion, should be exceptional and you should take advice from Legal Services.

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