Welcome…… To the new look Newsletter! Before we jump the gun and talk about Prequalification Questionnaires; this issue will give an introduction to public procurement. Particularly it will focus on how we as a Council select a route to market.

Meet Cornwall’s Buyers

On the 18th of September Cornwall Council hosted the County’s biggest ever meet the buyer event at Kingsley Village. With over 400 delegates attending throughout the day the event had a real buzz and 94% of the delegates rated the event as good or excellent. Delegates came from a huge range of sectors including construction, catering, care and consultancy

The event provided a great opportunity for businesses to meet a number of buyers from across the public sector in Cornwall with exhibitors total annual spend totalling close to £1billion. Ann Vandermeulen, Development Manager for the FSB in Cornwall said; “Public sector contracts are really an area where small businesses can branch into and succeed but they do need help to get confidence and understanding of the processes involved. By working together the aim is to facilitate a simpler route for all concerned and keep more cash circulating in the county.” If you would like to access any of the materials from the day please visit: http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=35301

Tendering Tips 2, 3 & 4

Don’t assume that all or indeed any of the potential readership/ bid evaluators may have detailed technical knowledge of the subject matter so it’s best to write in more general or layman’s terms, unless an expressly technical submission has been requested. Don’t use acronyms or if you do make sure their full meaning is included at an appropriate place of reference in your response. Do make sure all pages are numbered and any appendices/ attachments are clearly labelled as such and linked to the question they are helping to answer.

Issue 02 Sept 2013

Frequently Asked Questions

As a procurement team there are some questions we get asked time and time again. We are in the process of drafting a ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ list and each newsletter will cover some of these. Will my business be excluded because it is small? The public procurement process does not discriminate based on company size or any other grounds. There are however some contracts where the contracting public body will require turnover thresholds to show that your business is of a commensurate size to the contract value and that it is unlikely to go bankrupt during the contract delivery. Turnover thresholds should be capped at 3 times the contract value but it can be much less if the risk in the contract is low. How can I meet buyers? Most Buyers and Procurement Officers are happy to take a phone call. However, sometimes they are not the right people to talk to. If you are interested in smaller contracts <£10k then you may be better off speaking to the service manager for the area you provide goods/services in. Whoever you contact it must be done in a proactive way; once the tender has been published there must be no communication between the contracting public body and potential supplier – with the exception of formal clarifications. If you are unsure in the first instance which team to contact speak to the procurement team who can point you in the right direction.

Selecting a Procurement Route

For contracts and opportunities <£10k Service Managers in the Council must get three quotes from the market. These opportunities are not often openly advertised. If you are interested in work on this scale then contacting the appropriate service manager or the central buying team is the best approach. Over £10k total contract value the process used by the Council to run a procurement project varies depending on contract value and risk. There are 3 main procedures which you may encounter for contracts valued £10k - £174k; the latter two procedures are also used for contracts over £174k. All opportunities are advertised on Tenders on Cornwall: www.tendersincornwall.co.uk. Request for Quotation (RFQ) An RFQ is a simplified single stage procurement process with pass/fail selection criteria such as health and safety, financial status and safeguarding. The inclusion of these criteria will depend on the risk in the contract. Quality sections are often limited and there is a focus on price. This process usually uses standard Terms and Conditions. Restricted Procedure A two stage procurement with a “Prequalification Questionnaire (PQQ)” and a “Restricted Invitation to Tender (ITT)”. The PQQ contains selection criteria and tests the capability of organisations to deliver the contract based on past experience. The responses to the PQQ are then used to shortlist the most capable suppliers. The “Restricted ITT” is then circulated to those on the shortlist and they can submit a tender in response to the specification. Open Procedure A single stage procurement with just an “Open Invitation to Tender”. It is important to understand that the selection criteria normally in a PQQ will appear in the Open ITT. For higher risk contracts an Open or Restricted Procedure is likely to be used rather than an RFQ. Open procedure is often used when there is a limited market for a procurement, restricted when the response is likely to be extensive. The reason for this is that a Prequalification Questionnaire offers us the opportunity to shortlist, meaning we evaluate less full tenders.

Cornwall Business Show

On the 2nd October David Morgan of the Procurement Team presented to delegates at Cornwall Business Show. The seminar was well received and gave delegates a sneak preview of a pre-procurement self assessment form Cornwall Council have been working on with the Local Enterprise Partnership; that will be available soon on Cornwall Council’s website and Business Pulse. David’s presentation from the day is available on the Procurement webpage.

Upcoming Events

Procurement Drop in Sessions

These are half hour 1-2-1 meetings where a member of the Corporate Procurement Team will answer your questions on Public Procurement. You must not be currently involved in a procurement process. To express an interest email responsible.procurement@cornwall.gov.uk

Meet Cornwall’s Grower

As one of our primary contractors Chartwells have kindly offered to host a Meet the Buyer event focused specifically on the catering sector. Are you interested in supplying to Chartwells on both Council contracts and further afield? Register your interest with David

Morgan by emailing responsible.procurement@cornwall.gov.uk

Going Local 2

Last year Cornwall Council attended “Going Local” organised by Plymouth City Council as a forum to engage with potential suppliers. This year Going Local will be hosted in Tiverton Town Hall on the 24th October 9.30am – 3pm. David and

Chris from Cornwall Council will be attending and look forward to meeting some of you there

Next issue to focus on Prequalification Questionnaires

Useful links

Tenders in Cornwall

www.tendersincornwall.co.uk

Cornwall Council’s Procurement Website

http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/procurement

Contact us

Corporate Procurement Team

Floor 2, West Wing,

New County Hall, Truro, TR1 3AY

Telephone: 01872 323779 Fax: 01872 323507

responsible.procurement@cornwall.gov.uk