Instructions for Tendering
Specific instructions will be issued for each tender. Tenders are usually
submitted with the following instructions. Tenders not complying
with
these instructions
may be rejected. Our decision in the matter shall be final. The typical
document includes the following:
- Tenders
- 1.1 Tenders shall be prepared in accordance with this
document, and paragraphs numbered in accordance with these instructions.
- 1.2 The tenders shall remain open for acceptance
for 90 days from the specified date of return.
- 1.3 All pages of the tender must be numbered including
forms to be signed and returned.
- Tender Opening
- 1.4 Tenders will be opened at the address to which they
are required to be sent, in the presence of authorised officers.
- Tender Evaluations
- 1.5 Tenders will be evaluated against criteria set by
the evaluation panel before the tenders have been opened.
- Confidentiality
- 1.6 The tender documents must be treated as private
and confidential. Tenderers must not disclose the fact that they have been
invited to tender, or release details of the tender documents, except confidentially
to those who need to be consulted for the purpose of preparing the tender.
- Form of Tender and Schedules
- 1.7 The tender shall be made in accordance with the
Form of Tender enclosed with the Invitation to Tender. It should be signed
by the tenderer and submitted with any supporting documents the tenderer
may wish to send. Tenders not accompanied by the Non-Collusive Tendering
Certificate in the form included with the Invitation To Tender will not
be considered. Only prices shown on the Price Schedules will be regarded
as part of the bid. These may, however, be clarified in an annex to the
price schedule.
- Submission of Tenders
- 1.8 Tenderers are advised to submit tenders by registered
mail, recorded delivery or by hand. Tenders sent through the post are done
so entirely at the tenderers' own risk. A plain sealed envelope should
be used which does not identify the tenderer.
- 1.9 Please mark the envelope 'TENDER' and use the enclosed
label. It must not arrive later than the date and time stipulated in the
Invitation to Tender. Tenders received after the date and time stipulated
on the Invitation to Tender will not be considered unless the tenderer
can prove that the tender was despatched in sufficient time to meet the
specified deadline.
- Lowest Tender
- 1.10 The Department does not bind itself to accept the
lowest priced, or any, tender.
- Negotiations and Discussions after Tender
- 1.11 The Department reserves the right to enter into:
- discussions with any tenderer to clarify the tender submitted;
- negotiations with any tenderer about the amount, composition
of, or any other aspect of, the tender submitted.
- Freedom of Information
- 1.12 The Department is committed to open government and to meeting it's legal responsibilities under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Accordingly, all information submitted may need to be disclosed in response to a request under the Act. The Department may also decide to include certain information in the publication scheme maintained under the Act. If you consider that any of the information included in your tender is commercially sensitive, please explain (in broad terms) what harm may result from disclosure if a request is received, and the time period applicable to that sensitivity. You should also be aware that, even where you have indicated that information is commercially sensitive, we may be required to disclose it under the Act if a request is received. Please also note that the receipt of any material market "confidential" or equivalent by the Department should not be taken to mean that the Department accepts any duty of confidence by virtue of that marking. If a request is received, we may also be required to disclose details of unsuccessful tenders.
- Electronic Reverse Auctions
- 1.13 The Department may include the use of an electronic
reverse auction as part of the evaluation process.
- Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981
- 1.14 The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment)
Regulations 1981, TUPE, give effect to the EC Acquired Rights Directive
1977. The purpose of the Regulations is to safeguard the rights of employees
in the event of the undertaking in which they are employed being transferred
to another person or organisation. Where the regulations do apply to
a transfer, the transferor's rights and duties in relation to the employees
pass to the transferee who thereupon becomes the new employer. In broad
terms this means that the transferee has to provide employees with the
terms and conditions which they enjoyed while employed by the transferor.
- 1.15 Tenderers should take their own specific legal
advice to ascertain whether the Regulations would apply to their tender
if accepted.
- 1.16 The tender must state whether it is costed on the
basis that the Regulations would apply to it, if accepted. Where Tenderers
are uncertain whether the Regulations would apply to their tender, they
may cost their tender on two bases; one that the Regulations would apply
and one that they do not apply.
- 1.17 The Department reserves the right to reject any
tender which, in the opinion of the Department, is one to which the
Regulations are capable of applying and which is costed on the basis that
the Regulations
do not apply and vice versa.
- 1.18 For bids attracting TUPE the Department requires
Tenderers to certify that they will provide comparable pension benefits
and to indemnify the Department against claims if they prove not to
be comparable.
- 1.19 Details of those directly employed by the current
Contractor who would be affected by a bid attracting TUPE will be issued
as soon as the information becomes available.
- Information to be Provided by the Tenderer
- 1.20 Price Schedule - Tenderers must submit a Price
in the same form as that of the Price Schedule. The Contract Price shall
exclude Value Added Tax.
- 1.21 Other information required - Tenderers must also
provide, as a minimum, the following information in their tender (paragraph
numbers refer to the relevant paragraph in the specification or other
document where specified):-
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