Tender Evaluation and Award Process

Tender evaluation principles A Tender Committee should only have the mandate to issue a recommendation as to the award of a contract The authorised officer of the Contracting Authority should make the formal decision and be held accountable for it

Tender Evaluation Submission of Tenders Tenders must be submitted in accordance with the Instructions to Tenderers The deadline for submissions must fall on a working day Tenders to be submitted by letter or by hand, unless the contracting authority has the facilities to accept communications by electronic means in accordance with the provisions of the EC Directive 97/52 In case of institutions located in buildings with restricted access, make sure you establish an easy access of Tenderers for submitting their bids Ensure proper handling of received packages

Where a tender is submitted by post or delivered by hand, the following rules should apply: The Tenderer should seal the original and each copy of the tender in separate envelopes, duly marking them as ORIGINAL and COPY. The envelopes should then be sealed in an outer envelope The inner and outer envelopes should be addressed to the purchaser and bear the procurement references indicated in the tender document and with a statement “Not to be opened before the tender-opening”, in both English and local language An incorrectly sealed and marked tender may run the risk of misplacement or premature opening, for which the Contracting Authority cannot be held responsible The inner envelope should also indicate the name and address of the Tenderer to enable the tender to be returned unopened in case it is declared “late” The tender must be signed by an authorised person according to the instructions stated in the tender dossier

Receipt and Opening of Tenders On receiving tenders, the Contracting Authority must register them and provide a signed receipt for those delivered by hand The outer envelopes of tenders should be numbered in order of receipt Tender Opening Procedure checks that tenders are complete, signed and that tender security has been provided Public opening of tenders is recommended by the Commission for all works contracts Non-public opening of tenders at a formal meeting is acceptable, particularly for low value contracts The minutes of the tender opening should be sent to the participants, upon written request At a public tender-opening session: the names of the Tenderers, the unevaluated tender prices, provision of requisite tender security and fulfilment of any other stipulated formality or condition

A technical evaluation of tenders is to determine the offers compliance with Tender Documents requirements Technical evaluation is only carried out for administratively compliant offers, satisfying the qualifications criteria The Technical submission must meet at least the minimum requirements of the Tender Documents for the tender to be deemed substantially responsive An offer can only be judged against criteria set in Tender Documents To this end, it is recommended to spend sufficient time when preparing the evaluation grids and to make sure all important aspects were taken into consideration Evaluation period and report approval should not exceed the tenders validity period

A financial evaluation of tenders is to determine the lowest price If the offer is technically compliant with the Tender Documents requirements If the award criteria is the lowest price the process is simplified If the award is to be the most economically advantageous tender, the technical evaluation is measured against the award criteria in the Tender Dossier Need to consider costs of operation, maintenance, and consumables Technical evaluations are combined with financial evaluation to determine the most economical advantageous tender

Notification of an Award: the Contracting Authority must notify Tenderers promptly about their award decision this may include a decision to abandon an award procedure after invitations to tender deal with challenges to award decisions, if allowed under national law Debriefing: inform eliminated Tenderer within 15 days of the reason for rejection of its tender - inform admissible Tenderers of the name of the successful Tenderer and Accepted Contract Price

Conclusions: If you find yourself in a tender committee, then here are a few points: Conduct preliminary meeting of committee before tender opening to discuss tactics, programme and if appropriate, marking and weighting All voting committee members must read and score all tenders If a majority vote is recorded for any particular aspect the dissenting voter must briefly record their reasons Differentiate between must do / have items such as bank guarantees. Minor issues, for example an unacceptable CV for the proposed QA person Be logical, but keep your approach and method simple Make your own clear notes of your views and decisions so that you can recall issues should there be an audit Be prepared to answer an economic operator’s appeal against the award (if allowed) ….. and above all: DON’T PANIC!!!