How to Secure Public Sector Contracts

Agenda 8:30 Welcome 8:35 Sir Peter Soulsby, City Mayor 8:45 Public Procurement Overview 9:05 Tendering with the NHS 9:25 Tendering with Universities 9:45 Emerging Issues 10:05 Support from the Chamber 10:15 Examples of Best Practice 10:25 Summary and Closing Remarks

The Buying Organisations Leicester City Council – Juan Liu Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit - Collette Palmer De Montfort University – Barry Higgins University of Leicester – James Trotter Loughborough University – Tim Burton

Local Procurement Task Force 1. Increasing the opportunities for Small and Local Suppliers 2. Making selling to the Council easier 3. Changing the approach of our Buyers 4. Encouraging supplier interest 5. Influencing our partners

Increasing the opportunities for small local suppliers http://www.sourceleicestershire.co.uk/ https://www.eastmidstenders.org/index.html outline the rules that we must follow  explaining where to find details of opportunities to supply and how to tender explaining what is expected of our suppliers We are committed to equality of opportunity and seek to influence and develop cohesion and equality with suppliers. We will aim to ensure that: all enquiries from potential suppliers will be answered speedily and courteously, indicating the route to be taken for consideration in becoming one of our suppliers suppliers of all sizes are clear about the procedures for dealing with us our documentation will be clear, unambiguous, and user friendly full and constructive feedback is available to unsuccessful suppliers invoices will be paid in accordance with agreed terms

www.sourceleicestershire.co.uk

www.eastmidstenders.org

Supplier Engagement Programmes 2015 Meet the Buyer events Tendering Together Procurement Training Encouraging supplier interest Implement procurement communications plan Making Selling to the Council Easier

Simplifying Procurement Procedures New procurement system Regional PQQ Forward Procurement Plan http://www.cabinet.leicester.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=326 Business questionnaire Tender document keep it under 30 pages, this can be a complicated tender Regional PQQs, update it when you need to, key words, search engine, sourcing for low value providers,

Frequent Procedures Process Description Quotation Four written quotes with at least two (where reasonably practicable) shall be from a local supplier. Open Single stage process without any restrictions open to all bidders. Restricted Two-stage process: (1) Business questionnaire to select capable bidders (2) Invitation to Tender (ITT) to award the contract

Completing the Paperwork Business Questionnaire- Evaluation of your organisation Finances, Insurance, Performance, References, Quality, Equality, Health & Safety and Sustainability These are selection criteria 2. Invitation to Tender - Evaluation of the bids State how your proposal meets our current and future requirements These are award criteria. Buyer will state the criteria and weightings Suppliers are required to demonstrate their ability to provide the goods and/or services applied for, and recognise their own responsibilities in respect of: Standards or work – that it will be done well and both supervised and carried out by suitably qualified, competent personnel Health & Safety – complying with legislation, codes of practice and safe working systems; undertaking risk assessments for specific arrangements, where appropriate Sustainability – committed to reducing impact on the environment and addressing social and economic issues Equalities – committed to ensuring that no individual is discriminated because of age, disability, sex, sexuality, race, colour, ethnic origin or religion, and to comply with all statutory UK obligations

Price Vital to understand scoring: is it 100% or mix of quality and price 60% vs 40%?! - Where in that value chain will you reduce costs? - What price level will ensure you hit your objectives? - By what margin do you need to come down? - What part of their requirements is the most important to reduce costs on?

Local suppliers Being local on its own is not an advantage. But stress the potential benefits: Less distance to travel (carbon impact?) Quicker response time (better service offering?) More flexible (change your order....) Lower overheads Understand local issues/communities Local supply chains

Standing Out from the Crowd Have you articulated ‘Why choose us?’ Have you fully defined the key features, quality and benefits of your approach? Have you used and made the most of recent and relevant case studies to illustrate your track record? Have you gone the extra mile in manifesting your understanding of the brief and the design of your solution? Conduct a mock assessment against the evaluation criteria and relative weighting Presentation

Evaluation For the guidance you should note that, each question is given a relative ‘importance weighting’, to reflect its significance within the overall evaluation. This weighting is shown alongside each question. The total score from all officers involved will be averaged or agreed and applied to the weighting given to each question.

Common Issues in Tender Submissions Late submission Price Errors Forms not signed Sent in the blank form

Summary Be sure this is the right market for your business! Know which part and who you want to target! Understand what you have that they will want and how you can best beat the competition ! Always get feedback and review your position!

Any questions? Opportunities leaflets on the desk Juan Liu Procurement Strategy Manager juan.liu@leicester.gov.uk For general enquiries, please contact procurement@leicester.gov.uk

Procurement in the NHS Collette Palmer – Senior Procurement Manager Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support (GEMCSU)

Overview: NHS Landscape Procurement Contracting and common routes of Procurement Open Restricted Any Qualified Provider (AQP) Competitive Dialogue Looking out for opportunities

Introductions Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit (GEM CSU) NHS Commissioning Support Service Supports the use of Best Practice Operates & Manages the e-Tender process on behalf of commissioners Ensures the e-Tender process is fair, transparent and has a full audit trail by using: Bravo solutions and Supply2Health Ensures the process is compliant - Legal

Providers Commissioners NHS NHS England Commissioners of Primary Care Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) Commissioners of health services for the local population - community care, emergency care, acute, non-acute, mental health, ambulatory and patient transport services Private/Independent Commissioning Support Units (CSUs) Providing commissioning support services Others Public Health England Responsible for national public health: such as immunisations and vaccinations. Local Authorities (LAs) Responsible for local public health issues: such as smoking cessation, drug and alcohol services, sexual health etc.

CCGs Commissioning Obligations: Use of the current NHS Standard Contract for all clinical services procured Use of the appropriate procurement route Open Restricted Any Qualified Provider (AQP) Competitive Dialogue

What is AQP? When a service is opened up to choice of ‘any qualified provider’, patients can choose from a range of providers all of whom meet NHS standards and price Prices paid to providers will be determined in advance by commissioners. Either national tariff where it applies, or a locally agreed price. There is NO competition on price Patients will choose based on quality and individual preferences and money will follow patients’ choices Providers must respond to an offer on Contracts Finder and pass the national qualification process to ensure they meet the appropriate quality standards A national directory of qualified providers and contracts will allow information sharing across the NHS when the regulator or a commissioner terminates or suspends a contract

Complete Application form Contracts Finder Advert AQP Process APPLICATION WINDOW Bravo Complete Application form Contracts Finder Advert EVALUATION AND CLARIFICATION STAGE Evaluation Clarifications asked Final evaluation Pass/Fail Internal Approvals Contract Award + Service Mobilisation

https://online.contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk

Your response Read the questions carefully, and if you are not sure about something then ask! - Your Response can be copied & pasted - Max word count per text box approx: 350 words for responses - Attachments allowed where defined

HELP! If you are having difficulty understanding the questions or you have queries about the service or application form, contact GEM CSU using the messaging function within Bravo. ************************************************************************************ If you are having difficulty navigating or using the website please contact the Bravo helpdesk: Phone: 0800 368 4850 E-mail: help@brovosolutions.co.uk

Useful Links Contracts Finder: https://contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk BravoSolutions: https://gemcsu.bravosolution.co.uk

Useful Contacts Collette Palmer- Senior Procurement Manager Collette.palmer@gemcsu.nhs.uk Tel: 0116 295 7278 General Procurement Enquiries: LLRProcurement@gemcsu.nhs.uk

Questions?

Higher Education Procurement James Trotter Head of Procurement University of Leicester & Barry Higgins Head of Procurement De Montfort University www.dmu.ac.uk

Structure Our environment Our spend Our processes Our plans

Our environment Reforms to European Procurement Directives Government Policy Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 Diamond Report 30% collaboration target HE Purchasing Consortia Marketisation Research funding reduction Reforms to European Procurement Directives - Simplify, more flexible, increase SME participation e.g. limits on contract value/turnover ratio, shorter timescales, reason required for not breaking contracts/framework into lots Government Policy - Core PQQ questions, reduction in tender timescales, flexibility on financial vetting Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 - Consider social, economic, environmental benefits for EU service contracts Diamond Report - Strategic leadership, 30% collaboration, improve capability/capacity Procurement Maturity Assessments (Nine criteria) - Corporate Social Responsibility (Sustainability, SME-friendly) Marketization – Removal of student cap, greater competition between universities UNIVERSITIES NEED TO GET VALUE FOR MONEY

University of Leicester – Spend Profile

Via electronic process (e.g. In-Tend) Our processes Contract Value Procurement Process Below £5k Single written quote £5k - £25k Three written quotes Via electronic process (e.g. In-Tend) Above £25k Request for Quotation Above £50k Tender (led by University Procurement Team) Above EU threshold EU Tender (led by University Procurement Team) Can be advertised on In-Tend to a selection of registered suppliers or to all registered suppliers EU tenders advertised via OJEU - Quickly reach EU threshold as calculated as total contract value, including any extension options

Registration and alerts are free Widely used across HE sector Used by all three Leics universities

Our plans Collaboration Joint pre-qualification process / Qualified supplier database Aligned policies, including SME-Friendly Policy Influencing the HE Sector Procurement Consortia Collaborative tender processes “Demand Segmentation” SME-relevant contracts identified Support Market-facing procurement professionals ‘How to do business with Universities’ workshops UoL, DMU and L’boro looking to work together Market-facing procurement professionals Category Managers at UoL Senior Procurement Advisors at DMU …contact details on respective websites SME-relevant contracts, e.g. FM, reactive maintenance

Our plans Enabling access to the market / streamlining Joint pre-qualification process / Qualified supplier database Encouraging open advertising and local bids for low value contracts Proportionate financial standing and insurance levels Greater use of outcome specifications In-house training emphasising value of SMEs Performance measures include spend with SMEs Influencing the Supply Chain Selection/management of subcontractors tender questions Payment of subcontractors in 30 days UoL, DMU and L’boro looking to work together Market-facing procurement professionals Category Managers at UoL Senior Procurement Advisors at DMU …contact details on respective websites SME-relevant contracts, e.g. FM, reactive maintenance

Summary Complex and dynamic environment Procurement never more important Leicestershire’s universities working together Collaboration/SME ‘Sweet Spot’ Good procurement = SME-friendly procurement ‘Sweet Spot’ = Leics’ universities making progress towards the Diamond collaboration target by working together, purposefully identifying SME-relevant contracts

Emerging Issues Chris Hobson DNLCC

Where do you think public sector contract opportunities are advertised? News Papers Organisation websites Direct Contact Local authorities website Source Leicestershire

What are the major obstacles you encounter in securing public sector contracts? Terms and Conditions Lack of focus on and support for SMEs Having to fill in dozens of pages of Non Applicable questions or ones that verge on idiocy Too brief description of work at pre-qualification stage.  Disjointed and irrelevant PQQ requirements. Being too small (in terms of numbers of employees and £) to be given a fair chance

What are the major obstacles you encounter in securing public sector contracts? Timescales for completion of tenders & the amount of work involved  Understanding what the procurement organisation want Level of information required very high for small but capable businesses Finding public sector contract opportunities Complicated process

Support from the Chamber Helen Carter DNLCC

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