The tender, selection and contract management process.
All tender opportunities and requests for quotes advertised on GOV.UK's Find a Tender can be viewed on Solihull Council Procurement Portal.
Solihull Council and Solihull Community Housing (SCH) use the Solihull Council Procurement Portal to advertise the majority of their tender opportunities.
Find a Tender is the central government portal where public sector organisations, including Solihull Council, advertise tender opportunities. You can use Find a Tender to search for contract opportunities across the UK and sign up to receive alerts.
Find a Tender is also used as a central digital platform for supplier registrations. We advise all suppliers seeking to bid for our contract opportunities to register on Find a Tender.
Suppliers will need to be registered on Find a Tender to be eligible to tender for contracts where the ‘above threshold’ Act rules apply, as the information you enter in this system is mandatory to bid under the Act.
The Council also requests this information for most of our procurements for contracts over £30,000 (including VAT), so registering on Find a Tender means you’ll only need to enter this information once, regardless of how many contracts you tender for.
As it’s a national system, the information you enter once can be used when tendering for contracts with other public sector organisations in the UK.
Information on the various types of tender process which may be used for selection can be found below.
This is a single stage process where interested parties respond to a tender opportunity.
This is a multi-stage process where we invite interested parties to complete at least one selection stage, before submitting final tenders.
This is typically used where the requirement is complex, or where many responses are expected, and it’s necessary to reduce the number of tenders to those from the most suitable suppliers.
The most suitable suppliers may be identified in multiple ways (always detailed in the tender documents). These can include things such as the organisation’s economic and financial standing or having the required qualifications or certifications.
There may also be selection rounds such as prototyping, demonstrations, or initial proposals that are then subject to assessment and feedback before a final tender is returned at a future stage.
Some tender processes (either Open or CFP) may result in the establishment of a framework agreement. A framework agreement sets out the scope, terms and conditions, and method for awarding future contracts to the suppliers on the agreement. In such cases, the purpose of the initial tender is to select the suppliers to be on the framework, rather than the award of a contract.
The framework agreement is not a contract but instead sets out the process for how contracts can be awarded to the suppliers on that framework. This can either be by direct award or a further competition between the framework suppliers. These awards are referred to as ‘call-off’ contracts.
There are also ‘open frameworks’, which work in much the same way. The only difference being that the framework will be ‘re-opened’ to allow new suppliers to join (or replace) the existing suppliers on the framework.
The Council also has access to use framework agreements established by other organisations (known as Centralised Procurement Authorities), where that authority has undertaken the initial tendering process on our behalf. We are then able to award call-off contracts to suppliers on that framework in the same way as we would on our own frameworks.
Electronic tender responses submitted through Solihull Council Procurement Portal cannot be viewed by us until after the closing date.
The “most advantageous tender” or MAT is the highest scoring tender after the evaluation criteria has been applied. The evaluation criteria will be published in the Invitation to Tender (ITT) documents.
Submissions will be evaluated against these criteria by individuals or teams, and score moderated where appropriate.
We may invite short-listed bidders to a tender clarification meeting. This will be detailed in the tender documentation. These sessions will be used to clarify the submissions and could lead to modification of evaluation scores where appropriate.
We will let you know whether your bid is successful or not. We are happy to provide feedback when asked, without breaching commercial confidentiality.
For higher value tenders, tenderers will be provided with a more detailed ‘assessment summary’ letter as part of the standard process.
The aim of contract management is to ensure the objectives of the contract are delivered, and that opportunities for continuous improvement are realised. It relies on an open and collaborative relationship between Solihull Council and the service provider.
A contract manager assigned by the Council will work with the supplier throughout the life of the contract to anticipate future needs, as well as resolving any challenges that arise.
Effective contract management between the Council and the supplier will optimise efficiency and effectiveness and deliver value for money. The contract manager and supplier will also work together to identify risks and available opportunities for adding value.
The Council is continually developing our corporate approach to contract management, and any supplier successfully awarded a contract will be invited to work with us to apply these approaches and maximise contract performance.