Procurement Policy and Procedures

Manual

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Section 1 ........................................................................................................................ 4
Procurement Objectives and Governance ................................................................. 4
Important General Issues ................................................................................ 4
 Expertise and Probity ..................................................................................... 4
 Casual Purchases. ........................................................................................... 4
 Pilot Projects .................................................................................................. 4
 Sole Suppliers ................................................................................................ 4
 Conflict of Interest ......................................................................................... 5
 Statutory Provisions ....................................................................................... 5
 Collusive Tendering ....................................................................................... 5
 Criminal Convictions ..................................................................................... 5
 Procurement and Accessibility ...................................................................... 5
Section 2 ........................................................................................................................ 6
Procurement Process ................................................................................................... 6
Competitive Process below EU threshold values .......................................... 6
Procedures available Nationally ..................................................................... 6
a) Open Procedure .......................................................................................... 6
b) Restricted Procedure. ................................................................................. 7
Awarding a contract without a competitive process ..................................... 7
Direct Invitation (without Advertising) ......................................................... 8
Section 3 ........................................................................................................................ 9
Authorisation (Thresholds) and Responsibilities ...................................................... 9
Certifying and Authorising invoices............................................................... 9
Framework Agreements .................................................................................. 9
Operation of Panels/Lists .............................................................................. 10
Section 4 ...................................................................................................................... 11
Quotation/Tendering Procedures ............................................................................. 11
A. Low Value Procedure (less than €5,000) .............................................. 11
B. Medium Value Procedure (between €5,000 and €50,000) .................. 11
D. EU Procedure, (greater than EU Threshold) ...................................... 12
Formal Tendering Process ........................................................................................ 12
a. Budget approval ..................................................................................... 12
b. Specification of requirements ............................................................... 12
c. Terms of Reference ................................................................................ 13
d. Selection of potential suppliers ............................................................. 13
e. Pre tender clarification requests........................................................... 13
f. Developing evaluation selection/award criteria .................................. 14
Sample of Award Criteria for a Service Contract .................................................. 14
Sample of Award Criteria for a Supply Contract .................................................. 14
Evaluating Selection Criteria ............................................................... 15
Evaluating Award Criteria ................................................................... 15
g. Delivery and opening tenders ............................................................... 15
h. Evaluation of tenders and contract award .......................................... 15
Scoring Cost................................................................................................................ 16
i. De-briefing unsuccessful suppliers ....................................................... 17
j. Contract Management, .......................................................................... 18
k. Filing and storage of tender documentation ........................................ 18

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 l. Risk Management .................................................................................. 18
Section 5 ...................................................................................................................... 20
Engagement of Consultants and other External Support .......................... 20
Engaging external support ................................................................................... 20
Services comprising a significant element of direct service to office holder ...... 21
Ethics in Public Office Act 1995 ......................................................................... 21
Engagement of external support by Body to undertake work in another ............ 22
Documenting the decision to acquire external support ........................................ 22
Accounting for consultancy, contracting and external services ........................... 22
Where to charge Contractors and External Service Providers expenditure ......... 23
Establishing the Business Case for Consultancy services ................................... 23
Whole Life Costings ............................................................................................ 24
Cost benefit analysis ............................................................................................ 25
Risk Assessment and Management ...................................................................... 25
Approval of the Business Case ............................................................................ 25
Absence of a business case. ................................................................................. 26
Project Organisation............................................................................................. 26
Re-Tendering ....................................................................................................... 26
Reporting on Contracts ........................................................................................ 27
Appendices/Templates .................................................................................................. 28
Appendix 1 - Thresholds ..................................................................................... 28
Appendix 2 - Project File .................................................................................... 29
Appendix 3 - Glossary of Terms .......................................................................... 30
Appendix 4 - Guide to etenders website ............................................................... 32
Appendix 5 - Summary Overview of Procedures and Timescales ........................... 35
Template 1 - Certificate of Tender Received......................................................... 37
Template 2 - Open Procedure Tender Evaluation .................................................. 39
Template 3 - Score sheet for Evaluation of Tenders .............................................. 41
Template 4 - Score Sheet for Evaluation of Tenders – (Multiplier Method) ............ 42
Template 5 - Tender Evaluation – Checklist ......................................................... 43
Template 6 - Request for Tender (RFT) Letter ...................................................... 44
Template 7 - Acknowledgement Slip ................................................................... 45
Template 8 - Tender Documents – Checklist ........................................................ 46
Template 9 - Sample RFT ................................................................................... 47

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Section 1

Procurement Objectives and Governance

The primary objectives of this document are to ensure:

 Procurement in the Department of Transport is developed in line with best

practice;
 Procurement practices comply fully with statutory and EU regulations and
directives;
 Savings and performance targets are met, within the Department of Transport.

This document is designed to ensure a common approach across the Department of

Transport in the procurement of products, equipment and services. The polices and
principles set out herein will ensure that this Department will comply with the very
best practices across the Civil Service and the public sector as a whole.
Implementation of these policies and principles will ensure this Department complies
with EU Directives and Government Guidelines, gets best value for money and
ensures that in general, a competitive process is carried out in an open, objective and
transparent manner to achieve best value for money in public procurement.

It is very important that the public procurement function is discharged honestly, fairly
and in a manner that secures best value for public money. This Department must be
cost effective and efficient in the use of resources while upholding the highest
standards of probity and integrity.

Important General Issues

 Expertise and Probity

Divisions within the Department should ensure that staff involved in purchasing or
placing contracts are familiar with the National, EU and International rules that may
apply. It is also incumbent on this Department to take measures to separate functions
within the procurement cycle, by ensuring that, for example, ordering and receiving
goods and services are distinct from payment for goods and services.

 Casual Purchases.
Divisions should examine purchasing profiles to minimise casual or “once off”
purchases. An appropriate contracting arrangement should be put in place for efficient
and cost effective delivery of recurring supplies and services.

 Pilot Projects
Where a procurement process involves a pilot stage, the pilot should be conducted in
a manner that allows and encourages the identification of a range of acceptable
options.

 Sole Suppliers
Where it is necessary to deal with a sole supplier, service provider or contractor,
arrangements, which provide best value for money, should be negotiated. Divisions

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should take care when they face such a scenario. Open-ended arrangements with these
distributors should be avoided where possible.

 Conflict of Interest
Divisions should be aware of potential conflicts of interest in the tendering process
and should take appropriate steps to avoid them.

 Statutory Provisions
Before awarding a contract, Divisions should ensure that tenderers have regard to
statutory provisions relating to minimum pay, legally binding industrial or sectoral
agreements and relevant health and safety issues, when preparing tenders.

 Collusive Tendering
Divisions should watch for anti-competitive practices such as collusive tendering.

 Criminal Convictions
Candidates or tenderers who have been convicted of involvement in organised crime,
fraud, corruption or money laundering must be excluded from performing a public
contract.

 Procurement and Accessibility

The objective of this Departments, where it is practical and cost-effective to do so, to
achieve as high standard of accessibility as possible for people with disabilities. It is
the policy of this Department to ensure that relevant accessibility requirements for
people with disabilities are, where appropriate, included in all stages of the tender
process. The following procedures have been adopted:
 Staff preparing tenders should consult the Access Officer of this Department
to identify whether there are accessibility requirements, which should be
considered as part of the tender process. It may also be necessary to consult
with external advisors, NDA and/or people with disabilities to identify any
such requirements.
 If it is decided that there are no accessibility requirements relevant to the
goods or services being procured or that the accessibility requirements are
deemed not to be practicable or will cause undue cost or delay, this decision
must be recorded on the relevant file.
 If there are accessibility requirements such requirements must be clearly stated
in the request for tenders.
 Accessibility criteria must be considered throughout the tendering process.
Suppliers should be asked to identify features of their product or service which
meets the relevant accessibility requirements. If asked to make presentations,
suppliers should include accessibility as part of their presentation.
 Accessibility requirements, where included, should also be given appropriate
consideration and weighting during scoring and evaluation stages.

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Section 2

Procurement Process

Competitive Process below EU threshold values

It is a basic principle of public procurement that a competitive process should be used

unless there are justifiably exceptional circumstances. The type of competitive
process can vary depending on the size and characteristic of the contract to be
awarded.

For contracts below the EU threshold values (€125,000) the procedures set out below
should be followed:

 Supplies or services less than €5,000 in value might be purchased on the basis of
verbal quotes from one or more competitive suppliers;
 Supplies or services contracts between €5,000 and to €25,000 in value might be
awarded on the basis of responses to specifications sent by fax or e-mail to at least
three suppliers
 Contracts above €25,000 and up to the value of the EU thresholds should
normally be as part of a formal tendering process. Publication on the
etenders.gov.ie website generally meets national advertising and publicity
requirements and significantly reduces the need for expenditure on advertising.

While Divisions are not required to advertise on the national public procurement
website etenders.gov.ie for requirements below €25,000 they are encouraged to do so
if the anticipated response would not be disproportionate, having regard to the value
of the requirement.

Procedures available Nationally

The main requirement in relation to contracts entered in to for supplies and services is
for “Competitive Tendering” with Divisions/Units being widely encouraged to use
the e-Tenders website as a standard means for awarding their contracts.

There are two alternatives for below EU threshold contracts:

a) Open Procedure

Divisions/Units may use the open procedure for below threshold contracts whereby
tender documents are made available to all. This can be augmented by issuing tender
documents to known suppliers. Tender documents should test the financial and
technical capacity of supplier in addition to assessing their responsiveness to any
specific requirements.

While the Department of Finance guidelines do not set down any timescales for the
receipt of tenders/quotes it is the policy of the Department of Transport that a
minimum of 21 days be given.

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b) Restricted Procedure.

This is a two-phase procedure. Phase 1 being the request for expressions of interest
(EOI) based on financial and technical capacity. As an alternative Divisions/Units
may issue a questionnaire as a means of standardising responses. Phase 2 being the
invitation to tender phase.

As with the open procedure it the policy of the Department of Transport that a
minimum of 21 days be given to tenderers to respond to both phases i.e. 21 days to
respond to requests for expressions of interest and 21 days for suppliers to submit
tenders. It should be the practice where at all possible to invite at least 5 competent
entities to tender.

Awarding a contract without a competitive process

Awarding a contract below the EU value threshold without the use of a competitive
process should be considered only in the following instances:
 Where only a proprietary product will meet requirements, such as parts or
components for equipment.
 Where an agent, licensee or franchise holder has sole rights to supply a service or
product.
 Where there is only one suitable qualified specialist in the relevant field.
 Where a particular service provider possesses a special advantage due, for
example, to earlier research exclusively carried out in a particular area, or has
exclusive data or information required performing a particular task. In such
circumstances, it must be demonstrably clear that another service provider could
not perform a contract more economically.
 Where due to the urgency a competitive process cannot be undertaken in the time
available. What constitutes urgency cannot be specified definitively. Factors
giving rise to urgency must be serious, unforeseeable and, except in the most
exceptional circumstances (for instance a matter of urgent public safety or the
like) not due to the action or inaction on the part of this Department. Occasions
when it is necessary to award a contract without a competitive process due to
urgency should be very rare because an appropriate competitive process can be
completed relative quickly below thresholds, by direct invitation to tender to a
number of suitably qualified suppliers or service providers (see Direct Invitation).

When awarding a contract, care should be taken to avoid entering into open-ended
arrangements, for administrative convenience, that reduces or hinders competition.
Market testing should be undertaken at appropriate intervals to ensure that market
openness and competition is maintained. It may be even appropriate to advertise in the
OJEU to establish if there are international suppliers capable of meeting your needs.
However should the situation arise at a minimum a Division/Unit should negotiate the
terms of the contract with the company to ensure value for money.

If for any reason it is proposed to procure any good/service above €25,000 without a
competitive process, it should be noted that these procurements are subject to prior
review by the Department’s Procurement Officer/ Internal Audit. Such instances
where a competitive process is not used are subject to reporting to the Comptroller
and Auditor General and the Department of Finance by the Secretary General.

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Direct Invitation (without Advertising)

Alternatively a process of direct invitation to tender may be used. This may involve:
 invitation to firms deemed appropriately qualified for a particular project (this
maybe be appropriate for specialised requirements in markets where there is a
limited number of suppliers or service providers);
 invitation to tender to firms on a list established on an open and objective basis
(normally used when there is a frequent or recurring requirement or to maintain a
well organised ongoing procurement system).

Where direct invitations are issued, firms from which tenders are sought should be a
good representative sample of all potential bidders in the market concerned. The
number must be sufficient to ensure adequate competition, and should not be
restricted for reasons of administrative convenience. At least five firms should
normally be invited to submit tenders.

In keeping a list of firms from which they invite tenders a Division should advertise at
appropriate intervals (normally on an annual basis) for the admission of interested
parties and should ensure that the lists are open to suitably qualified entrants at all
times. Care should be taken to ensure that such lists are used in an open and non -
discriminatory manner and ensuring that recently established firms, or firms with no
previous experience of public contracts, are not excluded from invitations to tender.

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Section 3

Authorisation (Thresholds) and Responsibilities

Certifying and Authorising invoices.

For an invoice to be paid it must be -
 certified by an officer at any grade who confirms that the goods/services have
been received and
 authorised by an officer at HEO level or above from the cost centre incurring the
expenditure, subject to the following monetary limits –

Grade Authorisation Limit

HEO up to €50,000
AP up to €200,000
PO No limit.

To authorise an invoice for a particular cost centre, you must be listed on the
authorising officers form for that cost centre currently held by Finance Division.
Blank Authorising Officers forms can be found on the Finance Division forms page
on Staffnet. Original completed copies of these forms should be submitted to Finance
Division and must be updated whenever there is a change to the authorising officers
for any cost centre. Finance Division will request updates on these forms annually
however it is the Division’s responsibility to ensure that invoices are being authorised
only by officers listed on the authorising officers form for that cost centre.

Divisions should endeavour to have an authorising officer at HEO, AP and PO level

(or equivalents) for each of their cost centers in order to cover the range of
authorisation limits listed above.

Framework Agreements
Framework Agreements/Panels

The revised public sector Directive provides for “framework agreements” under
which contracting authorities enter into arrangements with suppliers or service
providers to supply goods or services under agreed conditions for a period of time,
normally not more than four years. Under these agreements, some elements of the
requirement, for example quantity, price, precise product specification, will generally
not be fully established at the start of the agreement. Advertising for framework
agreements should set out the precise nature of the proposed procurements to the
highest degree possible.

Framework agreements can be with one supplier or service provider, selected

following a competitive process, to fulfill orders or supply services over the period of
the agreement. Alternatively, they may be with a number of (at least three) pre -
qualified suppliers or service providers. In the latter case, a contract may be awarded
to one party to the agreement if the terms of the agreement so permit, or a contract
may be the subject of a sub - competition between parties to the framework
agreement.

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The fundamental requirement is that non – discriminatory and transparent competition
prevails in establishing framework agreements and in awarding contracts on the basis
of such arrangements. The provisions of the revised Directive (Article 32) are
designed to ensure this.

Operation of Panels/Lists
Lists of companies can be established from which future tenders may be sought for
ongoing regular requirements. The existence of such a list from which tenders will be
requested as and when requirements arise must be advertised.

The following shall operate in relation to panels/lists:

 Lists must be advertised on an annual basis;
 They must be established on the basis of seeking information on financial and
technical capacity;
 The number invited to tender should ensure sufficient competition and include at
least 5 tenderers if available;
 Selection of tenderers may be in accordance with:
a. Application of specific criteria, based on information available,
b. Random selection,
c. Rotation,
d. Or a combination of the above.

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Section 4

Quotation/Tendering Procedures

A. Low Value Procedure (less than €5,000)

This procedure must be used for purchases with an estimated value of less than
€5,000.
 One or more quotations from competitive suppliers,
 Market testing should be carried out periodically,
 For purchases of less than €1,000 the use of a low value purchase card should be
considered, otherwise a Purchase Order must be raised,
 Relevant backing documentation filed (See reference to documentation).

B. Medium Value Procedure (between €5,000 and €25,000)

This procedure must be used for purchases with an estimated value greater than
€5,000 and less than €25,000.
 Allocation (budget) must be in place before proceeding with purchase,
 Expenditure approval of budget holder required,
 Minimum of three competitive quotations based on specification,
 Advertising on e-tenders is recommended,
 All contract award procedures should include a verifiable audit trail,
 Purchase Order must be raised,
 Relevant backing documentation filed (See section on documentation).

C. High Value Purchase (between €25,000 and EU threshold)

This procedure must be used for purchases with an estimated value greater than
€25,000 and less than €125,000 (current EU threshold).
 Allocation (budget) must be in place before proceeding with purchase,
 Expenditure approval of budget holder required,
 Formal tendering must be used,
 Specification is required,
 Minimum of 3 weeks response time for suppliers,
 Advertise on e-tenders unless exceptional circumstance,
 Sealed bids before a prescribed date,
 Formal purchase approval supported by technical/commercial recommendations
where appropriate,
 All contract award procedures should include a verifiable audit trail,
 Purchase Order must be raised,
 Relevant backing documentation filed (See section on documentation).

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D. EU Procedure, (greater than EU Threshold)

This procedure must be used for purchases, which exceed the EU threshold.
(Currently €125,000 for supplies and services)
 Prior Information Notice should be used if practical,
 Allocation (budget) must be in place before proceeding with purchase,
 Expenditure approval of budget holder required,
 Formal tendering must be used,
 Call for competition (outlining OJEU award criteria),
 OJEN contract award notice,
 All contract award procedures should include a verifiable audit trail,
 Purchase Order must be raised,
 Relevant backing documentation filed (See section on documentation.

Formal Tendering Process

a. Budget approval
A realistic estimate of all phases of the service or product is essential, as this will
influence the procurement procedure to be followed and is important for budgeting
purposes. Establish whether sufficient funds are available to meet the purchase. If
there is an on-going commitment into a subsequent year, the funding for this
eventuality must be factored in. It is important at this stage to determine whether the
estimate (exclusive of VAT) is over the relevant EU procurement threshold (see
Appendix 1)

Once a realistic estimate of cost is available the relevant budget holder (Principal
Officer) should be requested to approve the expenditure. This should be done a timely
fashion. The senior management (i.e. Principal Officer level for projects with a cost
estimate less than €500,000; Assistant Secretary level for projects at or above this
level; and Accounting Officer level for all projects with a cost estimate equal to or in
excess of €30 million) review of the business case must, at a minimum, assess and
approve the business justification for the project on presentation of the full business
case; the decision to hire external support; and the procurement strategy proposed.
If no funding is available it will be necessary to make a business case to the Finance
Division to establish if funding can be made. Under no circumstances must a
commitment be made to initiate any procurement process in the absence of a
sufficient budget sanctioned by the Finance Division and should a procurement
process be initiated in the absence of such funding a Division may find that its future
budget might be reduced accordingly.

b. Specification of requirements

A specification should be as open and generic as possible to avoid favouring one

bidder or particular solution. The performance and or functional characteristics of the
product or service sought should be set out in language that is clear, concise, logical
and unambiguous. The specification must be comprehensive with sufficient
information for potential bidders to decide and put a cost on the supplies and/or

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services required and must set out the criteria for the selection of the successful
tenderer.

It is very important that the specification does not make reference to trade
names/patents or individual companies. In exceptional circumstances where there is
no alternative it is essential that the words “or equivalent” are included.

c. Terms of Reference
Terms of reference are essentially the specification for consultancy services. Standard
terms of reference include:
 Brief background on the Department including scale and number of staff etc;
 Details and background of the proposed assignment;
 Required deliverables from consultant;
 Timeline including proposed starting date;
 Outline resources to be provided by the Department/Division if relevant;
 Reporting & contact details;
 Selection details including contract award criteria;
 If required, notification that presentation to selection panel must be made;
 Request for reference details and CV’s of proposed project team.

d. Selection of potential suppliers

It is important to put serious thought and consideration into the selection of potential
suppliers. One established way is to establish a list of firms from which tenders for
different requirements can be sought. The existence of such list(s) should be
advertised annually and the admission to the list must be open to suitably qualified
entrants at all time. It is very important that the use of lists is done so in an open,
transparent and non-discriminatory way.

In general terms it is always prudent to take a proactive approach in investigating the

market with a view to sourcing new suppliers. This is particularly so when the
tenderers on existing list have not change in some years.

e. Pre tender clarification requests

Following the issue of tender documents, any further correspondence with the
tenderers prior to the closing date of the competition, must be verifiable, e.g. copy of
fax, email or registered post. It is recommended that any bidders seeking clarification
or additional information do so to a specified email address rather than by phone. Any
response to verbal queries should be confirmed in writing /email.

Responses to requests for information or for tender documentation in an open

procedure and any other supporting documentation must be issued without delay and
within a maximum of six days of the request. Requests for additional information
received in good time must be replied to at least six days before the latest date for
receipt of tenders. In order to avoid giving any unfair advantage, additional
information supplied to one party in response to a request for additional information
should be supplied to every interested party if it could be deemed significant in the
context of preparing a tender.

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It may arise where tenderers do not have sufficient time to prepare a complete tender
and they request an extension to the bidding period. Only in very exceptional
circumstances should a request for an extension be granted and normally this will
only occur if a substantial number of interested parties submit similar requests. Under
no circumstances should an extension be given if the request is received within seven
days of the closing date.

In the event that bidders are invited to visit a site/office to fully assess a proposed
contract before submitting a formal tender, all companies/individuals on the tender list
must be invited so that each has the same opportunity to tender effectively. Site visits
must be carefully arranged and supervised by a nominated person and due care must
be taken to ensure that all bidders are given the same information and access.

f. Developing evaluation selection/award criteria

All tendering procedures can be divided into two separate assessment operation:

 Selection Criteria – These criteria are concerned with the qualities of the supplier
as such in terms of their financial, economic and technical resources at their
disposal.

 Contract Award Criteria – The award criteria relate to the qualities and cost of the
products or services which the supplier proposes to provide if successful in
winning the contract.

In short, contracts are awarded after applying the award criteria, but only after the
suitability of those excluded have been checked under the suitability criteria.

Sample of Award Criteria for a Service Contract

Criterion Weighting Minimum score
required
1 Ultimate Cost 35% N/a
2 Methodology for delivery of the service 20% 1200
3 Quality, quantity and balance of resources offered 30% 1800
4 Project plan 10% 600
5 Reliability and continuity of supply 5% 300

Sample of Award Criteria for a Supply Contract

Criterion Weighting Minimum score
required
1 Ultimate Cost 40% N/a
2 Quality of Product Offered 25% 1500
3 Contract Management 15% 900
4 Delivery Schedules proposed 15% 90
5 Reliability and Continuity of Supply 5% 300

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Evaluating Selection Criteria

When information is sought from suppliers to test their financial and technical
competence as part of the expression of interest under the restricted procedure or as
part of the tender under the open procedure, all the information received must be
assessed

In the open procedure it is a process of verifying that tenderers meet the minimum
levels set (a yes/no process, whereby they must meet the minimum levels). In the
open procedure a large number of tenders may be received. The evaluation process
involves firstly confirming that the tenderers meet the minimum levels of
financial/technical competence; secondly confirming that they comply with the
specification and lastly they are evaluated against the award criteria.

When a notice is published using the restricted procedure it requests candidates to

supply information concerning their financial and technical competence – a
questionnaire can be used to ensure standardised responses. The information needs to
be evaluated using a scoring matrix. Weightings must be applied to each criterion
prior to opening/assessing the expression of interest.

Evaluating Award Criteria

When tenders have been received they should be evaluated on the basis of the
specification issued and the award criteria and weightings indicated and by the same
team appointed before the invitation to tender has issued. In relation to award criteria
it is a requirement to include the weightings for each criterion in the tender documents
(for EU procurements). Tenders must be evaluated against the stated criteria. No new
criteria can be introduced once the tenders have been received. The tenderer with the
highest score, meeting all the criteria is the winning tender.

g. Delivery and opening tenders

All tenders should be opened together and as soon as possible after the designated
time and date of receipt. They must be opened in the presence of two officials to
ensure in the case of a dispute there is a clear and formal vouched report of the
tenders received. They should be signed and date stamped as should the Form of
Tender and other tender pages, which contain prices, rates etc. Tenders received after
prescribed deadline should be returned unopened.

Tender details should be recorded on “Certificate of Tenders Received” (See

templates). The two officials involved in the opening process should sign this form.

After tenders have been opened, information relating to tenders should not be
disclosed to any of the tenderers or to any staff not officially concerned in the
tendering process.

h. Evaluation of tenders and contract award

Tenders are evaluated on a technical/commercial basis.

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  Only tenders that comply with the specifications and general requirements of
the tender documentation will be considered
 A tender that does not meet these needs cannot be accepted and must be
treated as invalid
 The pre-published award criteria may not be altered in carrying out the
evaluation process
 Tenders which fall into the following categories may be rejected:
 Irregular tenders which fail to meet the specification;
 Unacceptable tenders which fail to meet the suitability criteria, or
late;
 “unsuitable" tenders which fail properly to address the
requirements to any reasonable degree.

Example of Tender Evaluation Spreadsheet

Quality of Delivery Contract Cost Total Score

Product Schedules Management
Weighting 45% 10% 10% 35%
Minimum Score 27% 6% 6% N/a
Tender A €150,000 2700 800 800 3,500 7600
Tender B €200,000 3600 800 800 2,625 7,825
Tender C €250,000 3600 1000 1000 2,100 7,700

The result shows that Tender B is the winner even though priced at 33% higher than
the lowest cost.

Scoring Cost

Cost scoring may be carried out using a variety of different formulae. The two most
commonly used methods include:

1. Graduated Scale is calculated as follows: number of points scored = the cost of

the lowest valid tender divided by the cost of the tender being assessed and
multiplied by the maximum score achievable.

2. Sudden Death is calculated as follows:

Number of points is calculated by deducting the same percentage from the

maximum score achievable as the percentage by which the tender in question
exceeds the cost of lowest tender.

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Maximum Score Tender A Tender B Tender C

3500 points (Representing cost at 35% €150,000 (lowest €200,000 (33% €250,000 (66%
weighting) cost) higher) higher)

Formula using Graduated Scale 150,000x 3500 150,000x 3500 150,000x 3500
150,000 200,000 250,000
Score using Graduated Scale 3,500 2,625 2,100

Score using Sudden Death 3,500 2,333 (33% lower) 1,166 (66% lower)

Tenderers should be informed as to which methodology has been chosen for the evaluation and scoring of cost .

Evaluation Report

To support final approval of the contract the tender evaluation committee/group

should complete a signed tender evaluation report, which should be retained on file.

i. De-briefing unsuccessful suppliers

Apart from observing the legal obligations where the provisions of the procurement
Directives apply, where contracts are awarded on the basis of the most economically
advantageous it is good practice to adopt a voluntary constructive policy on de-
briefing unsuccessful candidates. Unsuccessful tenderers should be given an
objective assessment of the comparative strengths and weaknesses of their tenders
having due regard of the need to avoid compromising the competitive situation of
tenderers and for commercial sensitivity.

In the case of contracts under €25,000 unsuccessful candidates should at a minimum

be informed of the outcome of their tender by reference to their performance under
the relevant evaluation criteria used in the competition An offer of feedback by
telephone should normally be sufficient in these cases subject to being satisfied as to
the identity of the tenderer.

In the case of larger contracts above €25,000 unsuccessful tenderers should be

afforded an opportunity of a debriefing meeting. While many requests may be
satisfied by telephone feedback, where a more formal or personal debriefing is
required it would be normal practice to have two officials in attendance and a note of
the proceedings be kept for the records. Tenderers should be made aware that the
decision was not just the opinion of one individual but was made by an evaluation
team. The discussions should address the tenderers offer against the evaluation criteria
focusing on the relevant strengths and weaknesses of the tender. It is imperative that
information such as the identity or the prices of other tenderers or information that
could compromise the competitive situation should not be disclosed.

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j. Contract Management,

Once a contract has been signed or purchase order has been raised, it is incumbent on
the Department of Transport that the supplies, works or services are delivered in
accordance with the terms of the tender and the prices quoted. If companies fail to
meet these requirements they should be contacted immediately and a management
process of improvement put in place. A full written record of all correspondence
with/from the supplier should be maintained.

k. Filing and storage of tender documentation

A Division must maintain complete records of each stage of the procurement process.
The records must detail all decisions made in relation to the contract and must be kept
for a period of at least seven (7) years.

The file should be clearly labelled, with contract description and reference number
and should be divided into the following sub-sections:

 Post award correspondence,

 Regret letters,
 Approval letter/Purchase Order/ Award Notice,
 Tender evaluation,
 Post tender correspondence,
 Copies of tenders,
 Certificate of tender,
 Pre-tender correspondence,
 RFT documents & tender list,
 Specification,
 OJEU Notice/List of respondents,
 Approved business case.

A copy of every contract entered into should be forwarded to the Procurement Unit of
the Finance Division.

l. Risk Management

The Report of the Working Group on the Accountability of Secretaries General and
Accounting Officers (the Mullarkey Report) recommended, inter alia, that all
Government Departments and offices should introduce a formal risk management
system and should make risk management part of the business planning process. The
process of risk management involves a cycle of identifying risks, evaluating their
potential consequences and determining the most effective methods of responding to
them. This means reducing the chances of their occurrence and reducing their impact
if they do occur.

Divisions should ensure that appropriate procedures are in place to identify and assess

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all relevant risks throughout the procurement cycle. As a general principle, risks
should be borne by the party best placed to manage them and a body should not
accept risks, which another party is better placed to manage.

While a detailed exposition of risk assessment and management is beyond the scope
of these guidelines, Division’s should note that, typically, risk will impact the project
at different stages and it should be addressed appropriately as follows:

 Project risk. This encompasses risk to the project from the inadequate definition or
assessment of the need, scope, scale and financing of the project. These should be
addressed in the business case;
 Process risk. This is risk resulting from an inadequate knowledge of national and
EU procurement policy and law and from incorrectly or inadequately carrying out
a public procurement procedure. Process risk is addressed by adhering to these
guidelines and to the other documents referenced herein;
 Relationship risk. This is risk resulting from inadequate relationships with the
contract holder and the implementation of the project. It is addressed by the
contract, the project management plan, project management procedures and by
review procedures (e.g. mid-term review, independent peer review, etc.);
 Termination risk. This is risk resulting from inadequate definition of project
boundaries, of ‘project creep’, incrementalism, etc. It is addressed by having a
business case that specifies the scope of the project; a contract that states how and
when project change can occur; by change management procedures; and by the
final report.

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Section 5

Engagement of Consultants and other External Support

Consultancy is where a person, organisation or group thereof is engaged to provide

intellectual or knowledge-based services (e.g. expert analysis and advice) through
delivering reports, studies, assessments, recommendations, proposals, etc. that
contribute to decision - or policy-making in a contracting authority. The engagement
should be for a limited time period to carry out a specific finite task or set of tasks that
involve expert skills or capabilities that would not normally be expected to reside
within this Department.

A contractor is a person, organisation or group thereof engaged, for a limited time

period, to provide specified goods, works or services (including ICT (information and
communications technology) services) that implement established policy objectives;
to assist a Department in carrying out its operations and functions; or to perform
operations or functions that involve skills or capabilities that would normally be
expected to reside within the Department but which are not currently available.
Contractors come under the direction of a Department for operational purposes and
take day-to-day instructions from local management even though they are not
employees of the contracting authority. Particular care should be taken at all times to
ensure that such contractors are not at any stage explicitly or implicitly treated as
employees of this Department.

External Service Providers are organisations that provide the services or the
human/physical resources to meet the ICT and other service requirements of a
Department. These requirements could include software development; network
installation and management; infrastructure management; data centre hosting;
managed services; shared services, etc. External service provision involves the
transfer of actions for delivering business functions or services to an external service
provider but does not include the use of contractors (i.e. external support under the
day-to-day direction of the contracting authority) or the cost of purchasing packaged
software.

Additionally, external support may be required where:

 a need for an external assessment is deemed essential;
 a study or review is required by an external body (e.g. the European Commission);
 a study/project must be completed within a short time scale and, although the
knowledge or expertise may be available within the Department, performing the
task in-house would involve a prohibitive opportunity cost (i.e. total cost of
diverted staff, including relevant overheads etc.) or would be impractical (e.g.
staff engaged on other essential duties would have to be diverted), or it might not
be possible to redeploy staff cost-effectively redeployed in the timeframe
required.

Engaging external support

Before a Department considers hiring external support, it must first determine that the
project cannot be delivered in-house. If adequate internal resources are not available

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or if an external review is mandated, it is only at this stage that hiring of external
support should be considered.

Departments/Offices to which Department of Finance Circular 16/97 New delegated

arrangements for IT related expenditure [including office machinery] applies must
consult the Centre for Management & Organization Development (CMOD) of the
Department of Finance if appropriate delegated sanction is not in place.

In line with stated Government policy, all public bodies must use a competitive
process for the purchase of goods and services, whatever the value. Consultants,
contractors and outside service providers, therefore, must be engaged following such
a process. Awarding a contract without a competitive process can be considered only
in the situations specified in section 2 (Direct Invitation without Advertising). If the
value of the contract is equal to or above the EU threshold, the provisions of Article
31 of Directive 2004/18/EC must be complied with where a contract notice has not
been published or Article 30, where such notice has been published.

Services comprising a significant element of direct service to office holder

When hiring external support, the attention of Departments is drawn to the

‘Additional procedures to apply to certain consultancies and procurements relating to
proposed consultancy (or other services) comprising a significant element of direct
service to a Minister or Minister of State’, which were approved by Government
(February 2005) and issued by the Department of the Taoiseach.

Ethics in Public Office Act 1995

When external support is appointed personally by an office holder without a

competitive process, Departments of State should note, under paragraph 19.1(b) of the
Ethics in Public Office Act 1995 that a ‘special adviser’ is any person who was or is:

 Employed under a contract for services by an office holder, having been selected
for the award of the contract by an office holder personally otherwise than by
means of a competitive process; and
 Whose function or principal function as such a person was or is to provide advice
or other assistance to or for the office holder.

Therefore, if a person is: (a) selected by the office holder personally; (b) employed
under a contract for services that was awarded without a competitive process; and (c)
whose function or principal function is to provide advice or other assistance to or for
the office holder, the person is a special adviser, as provided for by section 19(1)(b)
the 1995 Ethics Act and, where this is the case, there must be compliance by both the
office holder concerned and the special adviser with their respective obligations (e.g.
laying the contract before the Houses of the Oireachtas, preparing and furnishing
statements of interests, etc.) as required by the Ethics legislation.

Note that special advisors can also be appointed under the provisions of section
19(1)(a) of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995 (i.e. where an excluding order is

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obtained) and under the provisions of section 11(1) of the Public Services
Management Act 1997 (i.e. by Government order).

Engagement of external support by Body to undertake work in another

Occasionally, a Department may engage external support to perform work in other

public bodies. For example, the Office of Public Works may have responsibility or be
best placed to engage external support on certain professional or technical issues on
behalf of other public bodies. If this is the case, the beneficiary body (i.e. public body
on behalf of which the external support is being engaged) must agree that the
procedures of the Department for the engagement of external support are the
procedures to be complied with for the duration of the project. At a minimum, the
beneficiary body must be represented on the project board as the user co-coordinator,
formulate and express its policy objectives for the project, sign off the business case
at the appropriate level, be present at the opening of the tenders, be represented on the
evaluation team, be part of the approval process for the deliverables and sign off the
final report.

Documenting the decision to acquire external support

The importance of good documentation in the success of a project should never be

underestimated. A project file must be opened, allocated an official reference number
and maintained for each project requiring external support. At a minimum, the file
must contain the documents listed in Appendix 2.

Accounting for consultancy, contracting and external services

Where to charge consultancy expenditure?

In this Department, all expenditure on consultancies should be charged to the

Consultancy Subhead (A7) of the Vote, except where the consultancy is required:
 Major investment programmes or major asset disposals;
 Reviews or evaluations of EU-supported programmes;
 Related to programme expenditure;
 Related to Value for Money policy reviews; in which case, the consultancy should
be charged against the dedicated subhead (A8).

Consultancy related to programme expenditure should be attributed to the relevant

programme subhead. Where this occurs the cost should be identified separately in the
subhead(s) concerned in the "Details of Certain Subheads" section of the Revised
Book of Estimates and in a note to the Appropriation Account.

All consultancy expenditure, whether charged to A7, A8 or programme subheads

(including funds from Grant-in-Aid subheads), should also continue to be listed in
Appendix 9 to the REV.

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Where to charge Contractors and External Service Providers expenditure

Expenditure on contractors and external service provision should be charged to the

relevant element of the A5 subhead or to a programme subhead, as appropriate and
not classified as consultancy. If any doubt arises as to whether a consultancy should
be treated as programme or administrative budget expenditure, Finance Division
should be consulted.

Establishing the Business Case for Consultancy services

As engaging external support is a cost on the public purse, a business case for the
project, linked to this Department’s business strategy, must be produced and must
provide financial justification for the project based on its whole life cost. In essence,
the business case must justify the project in business terms; say what business benefits
can be expected by implementing it; and must show why the project cannot be
developed in-house and why external support is required. The business case must
demonstrate in clear concise terms understandable to senior management that the
envisaged solution is the optimum combination of fitness for purpose and whole life
cost that meets the Department’s policy objectives for the project. That is to say, when
implemented, it will achieve Value for Money.

The relevant Division must determine the set of outputs that, if delivered to its quality
standards and if implemented on schedule and on budget, will be the most effective in
achieving the Department’s policy objectives for the project. The business case,
therefore, must present the deliverables, whether goods or services that the contract
holder will be required to produce or provide. It must show how these deliverables
will meet this Department’s policy objectives for the project and that its goals are
expressed and quantified in terms of impact on this Department’s business objectives.
This is a key requirement, and if the proposed deliverables cannot meet this
Department’s policy objectives for the project, serious consideration should be given
to cancellation of the project or to carry out a review of its justification. The use of
whole life costing will help determine the total cost of achieving the policy objectives
in the way envisaged by this Department.

The business requirements must be stated in sufficient detail to enable tenderers to

make workable proposals and to ensure that ‘project creep’ does not occur. This is
particularly important for business transformation and equivalent projects that
demand a clear and consistent articulation of vision and goals.

For contracts below the EU threshold, all Divisions should develop a business case, at
a level of detail proportional to the value of the contract, prior to obtaining external
support. For simple and low price contracts for services (e.g. hiring computer
programmers to carry out specific tasks) whole life costing may well be excessive and
Department, in such situations, should develop Requests for Tender with clearly
defined technical specifications and requirements for contractors or external service
providers to perform specific tasks at the lowest cost or that are the most
economically advantageous.

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For framework agreements, it should not be necessary to set out a detailed business
case for every individual contract to be drawn down under the agreement, as the
initial business case would have justified the decision to set up the framework
agreement and addressed the type of contracts it was envisaged to establish under the
framework. In all cases, the business case must be approved at the appropriate
management level before engaging external support.

In establishing the business case, it is good practice for the contracting authority to
consult with other public sector Department that have carried out similar projects
involving external support. The objective is to build on the success of these projects
and not to repeat problems.

Information on consultancies can be obtained from the central database on

consultancies, maintained by the Department of Finance. The VFM reports of the
Office of the Comptroller & Auditor General are a good source of information on the
use of external support in public projects.

Whole Life Costings

The total cost of ownership of an asset or a service to a Department is the totality of

the costs incurred throughout the life of the asset or service and is not simply the
purchase price.

Whole life costing assesses the total cost of an asset or service over its whole life: it
takes into account the initial purchase cost and additional related costs, (e.g. ongoing
maintenance and operational costs, disposal costs (if relevant), and other costs (be
they staffing, supervisory, health and safety, etc.) specific to the solution that the
contracting authority otherwise would have not incurred if it had not acquired the
asset or service. If whole life costing is not carried out it is unlikely that VFM can be
achieved.

Department/Division must decide the pricing model that will allow the award of a
contract on a basis that complies with public procurement policy and that will also
obtain VFM over the life of the project. This can be achieved by developing a pricing
model or cost breakdown structure that will evaluate the fixed (and variable, if any)
prices proposed by tenderers over the whole life of the project. In particular, a
tenderers cost proposal must be evaluated to see if it changes the contracting
authority’s costs, and what impact such changes would have on the whole life cost of
the project.

In ‘design and build’ or ‘advise and execute’ projects, it is often only when the design
or advice is presented that the future (i.e. staffing/operating) costs of a project become
clear (i.e. it may not be possible to estimate whole life costs accurately until the initial
phases of the project are completed).

Similarly, in management consultancy reviews the initial conclusions may have a

negative impact on, for example, consequential pay claims, grading claims, etc. that
do not conform to government policy and other expenditure or human resource
policy. In these cases, both the contract and the project planning must allow for a

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review phase to reject a design and / or policy proposal or to terminate any subsequent
phase of the contract, because of future costs and / or negative policy implications.

Cost benefit analysis

For all projects with an estimated cost in excess of €30 million a cost benefit analysis
must be carried out. The cost benefit analysis must identify costs on as wide a basis as
possible, be maintained and reassessed throughout the project and be used to set out
targets and plans to achieve the identified benefits. It must be annexed to the business
case and lodged in the project file.

Risk Assessment and Management

The Report of the Working Group on the Accountability of Secretaries General and
Accounting Officers (the Mullarkey Report) recommended, inter alia, that all
Government Departments and offices should introduce a formal risk management
system and should make risk management part of the business planning process. The
process of risk management involves a cycle of identifying risks, evaluating their
potential consequences and determining the most effective methods of responding to
them. This means reducing the chances of their occurrence and reducing their impact
if they do occur.

Risk management should be built into Departments procurement procedures.

Divisions should ensure that appropriate procedures are in place to identify and assess
all relevant risks throughout the procurement cycle. As a general principle, risks
should be borne by the party best placed to manage them and a body should not
accept risks, which another party is better placed to manage. (Please refer to separate
reference to Risk at Section 4.

Approval of the Business Case

The senior management (i.e. Principal Officer level for projects with a cost estimate
less than €500,000; Assistant Secretary level for projects at or above this level; and
Accounting Officer level for all projects with a cost estimate equal to or in excess of
€30 million) review of the business case must, at a minimum, assess and approve the
business justification for the project on presentation of the full business case; the
decision to hire external support; and the procurement strategy proposed.

Senior management should also confirm that the project is well planned and will
achieve policy objectives of sufficient importance to the contracting authority relative
to the whole life costs, in terms of the resources, both financial and personnel, which
they are prepared to commit to the implementation of the project and thereafter; that
the business case is comprehensive, has been properly prepared and is justified; and,
that, on implementation, the project will achieve the contracting authority’s policy
objectives and VFM.

The approved business case must be lodged in the project file. As this Department is
operating under an Administrative Budget Agreement, the provisions of that
agreement in relation to delegated sanction for engaging consultants and other
external support must be followed. Even if the estimated cost is within the overall

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level delegated to this Department, the Department of Finance / CMOD may wish to
view the business case and / or the Request for Tenders (RFT), e.g. if a purchase
within the delegated limit could significantly affect future spending decisions or could
impact on civil service numbers policy.

Absence of a business case.

There may be occasions when this Department needs to engage external support at
short notice to deal with matters of public urgency. In these cases there may be no
time to prepare a business case. If this happens the project manager must ensure that
there is compliance with all key elements of these guidelines (and both national and
EU public procurement law, as appropriate); the reasons for the departure from
normal practice are recorded in the project file and that the decision to proceed
without a business case is approved and signed off at the appropriate level.

The decision to proceed without a full business case must be documented, approved at
the appropriate level and the decision recorded in the project file.

Project Organisation

Projects must not take place without clearly defined lines of authority, responsibility
and accountability and a means of ensuring they are observed in practice. The project
organisation (i.e. the Department’s intended management structure for the project and
the envisaged allocation of staff to the project) must be defined in the business case.
Typically, for all but the smallest projects, this will involve a steering committee
chaired at senior level to oversee the project, the appointment of a staff member as
project manager and the assignment of appropriate business, technical and user co-
ordinators. For all major ICT and capital projects within the public sector an
individual civil/public servant must be assigned as project manager with responsibility
for the project.

The project manager is responsible for managing the external support to achieve
project targets and for reporting progress to the project board and to the Management
Board. A checklist on the responsibilities of a project manager in relation to the
management of a contract is in the ‘Quigley Report – Guidelines (appendix B -
Managing Consultancy Contract (Checklist for Departments)’, available on the e-
Tenders web site under ‘General Procurement Guidance’.

In addition, as part of the delegated sanction arrangements for ICT Projects (i.e. the
regime established by circular 16/97) Departments and Offices are required to
maintain a progress report for all such projects. Copies of the circular 16/97 progress
reports must be retained in the project file. The template for such reports is available
from IT Control Section, CMOD, Department of Finance.

Re-Tendering

The RFT must state clearly that open ended contracts cannot be awarded and that, in
all cases there cannot be an extension of a contract for services without re-tendering,
if the cost of the extension is more than 50% of the original contract price or exceeds
€250,000 whichever is the lower. Where future phases of a project are envisaged,

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RFT’s must make it clear that being awarded a contract for any particular phase does
not give to the contract holder any entitlement to be engaged for any other or
subsequent phase.

Reporting on Contracts

For all capital projects with a cost in excess of €30 million and for all ICT,
consultancy and other projects with a cost in excess of €5 million, the relevant must
furnish a separate progress report, on a quarterly basis, to the Departments
Management Board for departmental projects and then to the Minister. These reports
may be subject to inspection by the Department of Finance.

As part of the annual capital envelope this Department must furnish a report in
relation to capital projects with a cost in excess of €30 million in a format that shows,
for these projects, the outputs against contract timescales and budgets to the
Department of Finance and in the Annual Report on the Statement of Strategy.
This Department must furnish annually to the Department of Finance a report on the
ICT projects in our ICT strategy statement and must publish progress on peer reviews
of major ICT projects on a Department of Finance website.

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 Appendices/Templates

Appendix 1 - Thresholds

Thresholds (exclusive of VAT) above which advertising of contracts in the

Official Journal of the EU is obligatory, applicable from 1 January 2010 to 31
December 2011 1:

Revised public procurement Directives simplify the threshold provisions by

abolishing the two-tier system that existed under the former Directives and the
Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) of the World Trade Organisation and by
rounding the threshold values.

The main advertising thresholds with effect from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2011 are as
follows:

Works
Contract Notice €4,845,000 Threshold applies to Government Departments and
Offices, Local and Regional Authorities and other public
bodies.

Supplies and Services

Contract Notice €125,000 Threshold applies to Government Departments and
Offices

Contract Notice €193,000 Threshold applies to Local and Regional Authorities and
public bodies outside the Utilities sector.

Utilities
Works Contracts / Prior €4,845,000 For entities in Utilities sectors covered by GPA
Indicative Notice
Supplies and Services € 387,000 For entities in Utilities sectors covered by GPA

1
Thresholds are revised every two years. Full and up to date thresholds can be checked on the EU public procurement
website http://simap.eu.int .

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Appendix 2 - Project File

The project file should contain:

 a record of the meeting at which it was decided to engage external support and the
reasons justifying this decision;
 the business case;
 the cost benefit analysis (if performed);
 all correspondence wit the Department of Finance
 the contract notice;
 all advertising related to the tender;
 the Requests for Tender;
 all clarifications sent to those who requested the tenders;
 the report of the opening of the tenders;
 the successful tender. (Unsuccessful tenders should be archived together with a copy of
the RFT, the contract notice and the evaluation report);
 the evaluation report;
 the acceptance by management of the evaluation team’s report
 the acceptance letter to the successful tender informing of the result of the tender
competition;
 the letters to the unsuccessful tenders;
 the contract award notices;
 the contract;
 the project management plan (including the risk assessment);
 the minutes of all project management meetings (including the project inception
meeting);
 all orders to the contract holder for work-packages/services;
 all requests/responses for project changes;
 for framework agreements all correspondence, including orders, relating to individual
contracts/draw downs;
 all requests for payment by the contract holder;
 all requests for expenses, supporting documentation and vouched expense claims from the
contract holder;
 all acceptance notes for deliverables and services;
 all acceptance notes for expenses
 all correspondence with contract holder, including emails;
 all progress reports;
 the reports of any mid-term or perm reviews;
 the final report
 the post-implementation review or review/reports by third parties.

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Appendix 3 - Glossary of Terms

Call for Competition The means by which public bodies advertise their requirements –
published in the Official Journal of the European Communities

Candidate Supplier, contractor or service provided seeking to be included on

tender list

Contracting The buying organisation i.e. the Department of Transport

Authority

EEA Agreement An agreement between EU and Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein

(means European Economic Area)

eTenders The Irish Government website for advertising contracts of national

and EU value. Site www.etenders.gov.ie

EU European Union

EU Countries 25 Member States – Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France,

Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal,
Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary,
Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia

FOI Freedom of Information - as per Act of 1997 and subsequent

amendments

GPA Government Procurement Agreement

Irregular Tender A tender that fails to comply in all material respects with the
specification

ITT Invitation to Tender

Negotiated Procedure A purchasing procedure that involves negotiating with a small number
of companies (approx 3). It is widely used by utilities but can only be
used by the public sector in limited circumstances.

OJEU Official Journal of the European Union where all above threshold
advertisements are published.

Open Procedure This is a commonly used purchasing procedure whereby all those
companies who apply for tender documents will be allowed to tender.

PIN Prior Information Notice – the means by which contracting entities

indicate their purchases over the following 12 months at European
level – required when an aggregated product requirement or category
of service will exceed €750,000

Restricted Procedure 2 Phase purchasing procedure. Phase 1 seeks information on

minimum criteria, which must be met in order to be considered for
tender list. Under this procedure normally at least 5 organisations are
invited to tender (Phase 2).

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RFT Request for Tender

Service Provider An individual or company which provides services

SIMAP System Informatique de Marches Publiques – The European

Commission’s Public Procurement website. Simap.eu.int

Specification A description of the product or service required in terms of functional

and/or technical performance etc.

Supplier An individual or company, which provides goods or products.

TED Tenders Electronic Daily – European Commission website for

publication of notices in the OJEU.

Tender The documentation issued by a contracting entity seeking prices and

or proposals. Tender also refers to the submission from the supplier or
service provider detailing their offer.

Tenderer Supplier, contractor or service provider invited to submit a tender

WTO World Trade Organisation

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Appendix 4 - Guide to etenders website

The Irish Government has established a common procurement portal www.etenders.gov.ie for
use by all public bodies or bodies in receipt of state funding. It is a one-stop-shop for public
bodies to publish contract opportunities and for the market to identify opportunities. It is a
free service for all users

The site can be used to issue National or European Notices. The options are to create:

 A Site Notice - for National advertising – notices appear immediately on etenders only,

 An OJEU Notice – for contracts subject to European rules – notices appear on etenders
and are sent automatically to the European Journal and published in approximately 3-5
days. (It is advisable to check when they have been published and to copy to file with
publication date and reference number). One can log on to OJEU website as follows:
ted.europa.eu

The Department of Transport is a registered buyer on etenders and it this Department’s policy
to utilise this portal to the fullest possible extent.

1. Registration

If you have not already done so go to www.etenders.gov.ie and click the register link on the
top menu and enter your details. Your registration will be checked and approved within a
short period and you will be granted full access to the site.

2. Check your details

If you have already registered, go to www.etenders.gov.ie select the sign in link from the top
menu, and enter your username and password. If you have forgotten your password use the
‘Forgot your password’ link on the sign in page and it will be emailed to you. After signing in
you will be taken to the ‘Supplier Home Page’ and from there you can view and update your
registration details and check on tenders that you have previously registered an interest in.

3. Searching for Notices

One can search for notices published by various awarding authorities by selecting the
‘Notices Search’ from the top menu and entering your search criteria. By default all the
current notices will be selected and you can page through them by using the ‘video recorder’
type controls and the top of the list. To filter the number of tenders, select a category and/or
enter a keyword and click the search button.

4. Viewing a Notice

Click on the title of the tender to view the full notice and optionally register your interest in
the notice. When you register an interest you will be sent any additional documents when they
become available.

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Document1 33
Document1 34
Appendix 5 - Summary Overview of Procedures and Timescales

Supplies of Services (ex Works (ex of Process

of VAT) VAT)

Between €500 - €5,000 one quotation from know

suppliers

Between €5,000 - €25,000 Below €250,000 Two procurement options:

1. Three written quotations from

suitable suppliers
2. Advertise on the etenders
website, www.etenders.gov.ie
where supply-base is not
known

Between €25,000 - Between €250,000 - One Procurement option:

€125,000 €5,278,000
Advertise on the etenders website,
www.etenders.gov.ie

Greater than €125,000 Greater than One Procurement option:

€5,278,000
Advertise in Official Journal of
European Union – seek advice on
procedure to adopt i.e. open,
restricted, negotiated or
competitive dialogue.

Note: When deciding the appropriate process on should work on the basis of 10-15%
less than threshold to ensure appropriate coverage

Document1 35
Procedure Receipt of expressions Receipt of tenders
of interest

National [Recommended]

Open – National N/A 21 days

Restricted - National 21 days 21 days

European [Mandatory]

Open - Normal N/a 52 days

Open - Using eTenders for notices N/a 45 days

Open - Using eTenders for notices and tender N/a 40 days

documents

Open - with PIN Notice published 52 days N/a 22-36 days

before Call for Competition

Open - with PIN Notice published 52 days N/a 10-24 days

before Call for Competition and using
eTenders for notices and tender documents

Restricted - Normal 37 days 40 days

Restricted - using eTenders for notice 30 days 40 days

Restricted - using eTenders for notice and 30 days 35 days

tender documents

Restricted - with PIN published 37 days 22-36 days

Restricted - with PIN and using eTenders for 30 days 17-31 days
Notice

Competitive Dialogue - Normal 37 days No time stated but

at least 10 days
recommended

Competitive Dialogue - using eTenders for 30 days At least 10 days

Notice recommended

Document1 36
Template 1 - Certificate of Tender Received

Contract Description………………………………………Ref No…………………….Opening Date & Time……………………..

Name of Tenderer Tender Reference Date of Tender Price Details Comments

Signature (Official 1)…………………………………………………………………..Date……………………

Signature (Official 2). ………………………………………………………………….Date……………………

37
Template 2 - Open Procedure Tender Evaluation

First Stage – Examine if tenderers meet the minimum standards specified in the tender documents/notice, in terms of technical and financial capacity and
expertise

Company Similar Design Staff Turnover/Size Quality Financial Safety &

Contracts Experience Qualifications Assurance Capacity Environmental
Company ‘A’ YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
Company ‘B’ YES YES NO YES YES YES YES
Company ‘C’ YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
Company ‘D’ NO YES NO YES NO YES YES
Company ‘E’ YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
Company ‘F’ NO NO YES YES NO YES YES
Company ‘G’ YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
Company ‘H’ YES NO YES NO YES NO YES

Outcome of Assessment:

 Companies A, C, E and G meet the minimum standard and are therefore eligible to have their tenders evaluated.

 The remaining companies do not meet the minimum standard and are ruled out of further consideration (i.e. their tenders will not be
evaluated).

39
Template 3 - Score sheet for Evaluation of Tenders

Example: - Consultancy for Value for Money and Policy Review

Award Criteria Quality of Relevant Ultimate Cost Company access Proposed Timeframe for Total marks
proposal in knowledge, (inc expenses) to relevant methodology delivery awarded
addressing skills and international
requirements of expertise of information
project personnel
assigned to
project
Total Points 25 25 25 10 10 5 100
available
Company A 20 20 22 8 5 5 80
Company B 22 18 15 6 5 5 71
Company C 20 15 10 5 8 5 63

Outcome: - Company ‘A’ received the highest number of points and is recommended for the contract

Signed: - Evaluation team …………………………………………………………………………. Date:……………………………….

41
Template 4 - Score Sheet for Evaluation of Tenders – (Multiplier Method)

Example: Purchase of a Van

Award Criteria Technical After Sales Accommodation Ultimate Cost Emissions Total Score
Characteristics Services Capacity

Percentage Weighting 20% 10% 15% 50% 5% 100%

Max Score 2000 1000 1500 5000 500 10,000
Base Score 400 200 300 100
Multipliers 0,1,2,3,4,5 0,1,2,3,4,5 0,1,2,3,4,5 0,1,2,3,4,5 0,1,2,3,4,5 0,1,2,3,4,5
Rule Must score 1,200 Must score 600 Must score 900 No rule Must score 300
Company ‘A’ (€50k) 1950 750 1500 4500 500 9200
Company ‘B’ (€45k) 1750 750 1200 5000 400 9100
Company ‘C’ (€42k) 1200 650 750 Eliminated 350 Eliminated
The scores for ‘ultimate cost’ (UC) of each tender were calculated as follows:

Multipliers UC Maximum Points x Lowest UC responsive valid tender = Tender ‘n’ score under ‘UC’
UC of tender ‘n’

Rating Multiplier Outcome:

Excellent 5
Very Good 4
 Company ’A’ who submitted a responsive valid tender and received the highest points is declared the winner.
Good 3
Fair 2
Poor 1  Company ‘C’ was eliminated because they failed to meet the minimum score required under “Accommodation
No evidence 0 Capacity” (900 points)

42
Template 5 - Tender Evaluation – Checklist

Contract title:……………………………………….. RFT Ref no:…………….

No. Description Resp. Yes No

1 Examine all tenders to see if the are responsive and
seek tender clarifications if necessary
2 Reject all non-responsive tenders and note reason for
rejection
3 Prepare spreadsheet showing all commercial details
and update it if and when technical evaluation report
is received
4 Conduct commercial evaluation of tenders that are
technically acceptable, solely on the basis of
published award criteria
6 Where necessary, check standing of company with
referees nominated by tenderer
7 Complete tender evaluation scoring sheet
8 Prepare evaluation report and submit recommendation
for approval
9 Advise all individuals/Units concerned when contract
is approved and issue regret and award letters (note
standstill period to be applied to award process for EU
contracts)
10 Seek tax clearance certificate from successful tenderer
11 Finalise contract details with successful tenderer and
issue purchase order
12 Publish award notice in OJEU (for EU contracts only)
13 Bring contract file up to date and send details of
contract to the Procurement Section of Finance
Division

43
Template 6 - Request for Tender (RFT) Letter

< Company/individual name>

For attention of: < name>

<Date> <reference no>

Re: < contract title>

<OJEU ref No>

Dear Sir/Madam

You are invited to submit a tender for the above contract/competition in accordance
with the enclosed tender documents, which comprise the following:

 Technical Specifications
 Conditions of Contract
 Schedule of requirements
 Instructions to tenderers
 Drawings & Tables (if appropriate)
 Certificate of bona fide tender

This letter of invitation takes precedence over the above documentation.

Please ensure the enclosed Form of Tender is completed correctly and signed.
Your completed tender should be submitted in a sealed envelope before the closing
date for tenders at 12’ noon on <date>.
A tender validity period of six (6) months is required.
Three (3) hard copies (will vary depending on nature of contract) of completed tender
are required.
Please return the attached acknowledgement slip to the fax number provided, within 7
days of the date of this letter.
All queries in relation to this tender should be emailed to …………………. at email
address ………….before………day….2009.
Tenderers may follow up on previous emailed queries by telephone (phone
numbers:……….)
Please read all tender documentation carefully.

Yours faithfully

__________________
<name>
<Division>
Department of Transport

44
Template 7 - Acknowledgement Slip

Please return by fax to: < fax No>

For attention of: < Divisional Contact >

< Contract Title & Reference>

Dear Sir/Madam

We hereby acknowledge receipt of the tender documents for the above contract. We confirm
that we will/will not* submit a completed tender by the closing date.

*(Delete as appropriate)

Signed…………………………………..

Company/Individual name ………………………….

N.B. This acknowledgement slip must be returned by Fax, within 7 days of the date of
issue of the tender documents.

45
Template 8 - Tender Documents – Checklist

Contract Title:…………………………. RFT Reference No:……………..

No. Description Response Yes No

1 RFT letter and acknowledgement slip
2 Pre-addressed tender return label
3 Instructions to Tenderers
4 Technical Specification/ Terms of Reference
5 Schedule of requirements
6 Award Criteria
7 Conditions of Contract
8 Insurance Requirements
9 Form of Tender/Schedule of prices
10 Certificate of Bone Fide Tender

Comments

Signed:………………………… Date………………………..

46
Template 9 - Sample RFT

Request for Tenders

for

[Design, Development and Management of a Service]

Open Procedure

[Contracting Authority]

[Date]

This sample document is intended for general guidance. It is not definitive or exhaustive
on all the considerations that arise in preparing a Request for Tenders [RFT]. The
sample is based on an open tendering procedure under EU procurement rules but the
same principles should apply to a non-EU procedure. It follows a format and structure
commonly used and may be of assistance in assembling tender documentation.

Contents

1. Introduction

Generally contains background and summary overview of requirement.

2. Specification of Requirements

Gives comprehensive description of requirements, specification and criteria to

be met.

3. Format of Tender

Sets out how tenders are to be structured and how a proposal is to be

presented.

4. Examination and Evaluation of tender

Generally sets out conditions relating to such matters as need for tax
compliance, freedom of information and data protection provisions, conflict of
interest, intellectual property, latest time for submission of tenders etc.

5. Appendices

47
1. Introduction

1.1 Background and Summary of Requirements:

The Irish Government Public Sector Procurement Website ......... has been live since March
2001, and all public sector (Central Government, Health Sector, Local Government,
Education Sector, etc) procurement opportunities are published on the site.

The [contracting authority] now invites tenders for the management, maintenance and
continuing development of this website. The services to be provided are:

(i) Design and development of the some elements of the ......website

(ii) On-going maintenance of the site
(iii) Publishing of procurement opportunities and associated information on
website
(iv) Registration of users and provision of a help service to users
(v) Implementation of agreed enhanced functionality

A detailed specification of requirements is set out in Section 2. Tenders must comply

with the format of tender as set out in Section 3.

It is proposed to place a contract for a period of two years with an option for renewal for up to
a further two years.

1.2 Financial Arrangements

Payment for services covered by this invitation to tender will be on foot of appropriate
invoices, which will be based on agreed deliverables. Invoicing arrangements will be agreed
with the successful service provider, following the award of contract. A contract entered into
on foot of this Request for Tender is subject to the Prompt Payments of Accounts Act.

1.3 Further Information and Query Handling

Every effort has been made to ensure that this documentation contains all the necessary
information for completion of tenders. However, in the interests of equity, requests for
additional information, clarification on the content of this document and all other queries of
substance (other than in relation to purely factual or procedural matters) must be made in
writing or by email. Any additional information elicited will be made available to all potential
tenderers who have obtained a copy of this document via the etenders website or directly from
[contracting authority].

Any queries should be submitted by email or in writing only, not later than [local time] on
[day and date] addressed to:

Name : Address :
Fax : E-mail :

1.4 Timetable

The timetable in relation to this tender process is as follows:

Latest date and time for receipt of tenders [date]

Award of contract - anticipated [date]
Contract commencement - anticipated [date]

48
2. Specification of Requirements

Potential service providers should be familiar with the ....... website and the facilities and
functionality currently available to users.

The Site is a built as a Lotus Notes Application and the data is stored in several Notes
Databases. Information on the technical specification of the site is set out in .?(Appendix ...
?).

Current Site Features to be retained

The initial requirement is to ensure that the facilities and functionality currently available on
the site continue to be available, without any break in the availability of these services. The
following are the processes and functions available to users.

 Access to Tenders and other Site Content

 User Registration
 Publication of Tenders
 Downloading of Tenders
 Search Facility
 Tender Archive
 Awarding Authority Area
 Public User Area
 User Helpdesk and Feedback facility

More details on these elements are included in points 2.1.1 to 2.1.3 below.

Description of Site Content

(a) All Public Procurement advertisements from the European Journal (OJEU) including
Contract, Prior Information and Contract Award Notices are published. Any associated
notices, which appear in the OJEU are also published.

(b) All additional public sector tender opportunities advertised in national and local
newspapers and other relevant publications (e.g., provincial newspapers) where public sector
tenders commonly appear are also replicated on the site.

(c) Tenders are also entered directly by Awarding Authority Users onto the site. At present
between 30- 40% of users are uploading their notices directly onto the site via the online
notice publication facility. The rest of the notices are being sourced as in a) and b) above.

Requirements in relation to maintaining the above content are as follows:

 all tender opportunities must appear in a timely and accurate manner;

 a robust quality assurance process must be in place to ensure the accuracy and
completeness of the information posted to the site;
 duplication checking must be applied to ensure that each notice appears only once
on the site;
 Awarding Authorities must be facilitated to upload notices on the date of issue to
the OJEU which will be replaced when published in the OJEU;

Organisation of Content

Advertisements, notices and awards appear initially under the categories Works, Supplies

49
and Services. Sub categories used refer to type of service/supply (e.g., computers &
electronic, stationery & printing, etc). They are also categorised under Publication Date,
Competition Closing Date and Awarding Authority.

2.1.3 Facilities currently available on the site, which must be retained

(a) User Registration .................................

(b) Publication of Tenders ................................
(c) Search Facility ................................................
(d) Archive Facility ................................
(e) Awarding Authority User Area ................................
(f) Public User Area ................................
(g) User Helpdesk and Feedback facility ................................

2.2 Hosting and Technical Maintenance of Site

(a) The site is currently hosted by the ----------in their webfarm facility. Please see high-
level diagram of the site architecture in Appendix ..?

(b) Full responsibility for ongoing maintenance and support of the site will rest with the
selected service provider. ........................

(c) The successful tenderer should provide corrective maintenance on the server and the
application. ............

(d) The service provider must also continue to maintain a test environment for the
etenders site at..........

2.3 Provision of service for ongoing site management

(a) Full responsibility for ensuring that the site contains all public procurement
opportunities advertised in the publications at 2.1.1 and related documentation will rest
with the selected service provider. The site must be up-to-date at all times.

(b) The selected service provider will be expected to have a process in place to ensure
that the site is populated on an ongoing basis as defined at 2.1. Details of this process
should be included in the service provider’s proposals in reply to this RFT.

(c) While Awarding Authorities will continue to be able to upload documents to the site,
it will be the responsibility of the selected service provider to check and verify the
authenticity of the documents and to ensure that correct categorisation principles have
been applied.

(d) The successful service provider will be expected to meet with the [contracting
authority] on a regular basis, at a minimum on a quarterly basis, during the lifetime of
the contract. These meetings will take place in [Dublin ?].

(e) The successful tenderer will be facilitated with site familiarisation (in terms of
existing program code, etc.) and will be expected to participate in a handover process
with the current service provider.

2.4 Redevelopment Work Required on the Existing Site

Some areas of the existing site have been identified as requiring redevelopment work. These
include, but are not limited to, the requirements set out in the following paragraphs (2.6.1 to
2.6.4), which must be included in the tender.

50
2.5 Minor Additions / Changes required for Improved Usability:
a) .......................................
b) .........................
c) .......................................

2.6 Enhanced Functionality Requirements

The [contracting authority] intends that additional functionality would be added to the
existing etenders website. The ultimate objective is, in the long term, to transform the
etenders site into a National Tender Management Facility(see 1.2 above). Below is a brief
outline of some of the proposed enhancements. It should be noted that there is no
commitment on behalf of the [contracting authority] that any of these items will be
implemented. Requirements for other functionality may be identified by the [contracting
authority] and this will be addressed by way of Change Control.

Tenderers should note the following.

 Tenderers must confirm their ability to provide enhanced functionality, and must quote
separately for each of the enhancements listed below, stating any assumptions and/or
prerequisites.

 Tenderers must state how they propose to implement the functionality below and must
state whether they are proposing bespoke development OR an off-the-shelf solution OR
an ASP type offering. The estimated development or lead-time for each function must be
indicated.

 Arrangements for acceptance testing and piloting of any enhanced functionality, and
related arrangements for payment based upon successful completion of agreed
deliverables, will be agreed between the [contracting authority] and the successful
tenderer.

2.7.1 Tender Submission Postbox

Functionality is required to allow suppliers to securely submit their tenders to the Awarding
Authority via the etenders site. The tenders must be time and date-stamped and stored in a
secure environment on a separate server until the tender deadline has passed. The system must
then provide for the opening of tenders received electronically by the authorised personnel
from the Awarding Authority.

2.7.2 Current Manual Process

(Please note that variations to the following procedure may exist in different Awarding
Authorities.)

2.7.3 General Requirements for Electronic Tender Submission Post-box

The new system must provide for the following at minimum:
 ..................................................
 ................................
 ...................................................................
 ..............................................

51
2.7.4 Notice Completion Facility or Wizard
There is a requirement to provide Awarding Authority users with a facility to enable them to
prepare, online, the complete range of standard OJEU notices i.e. PIN, Contract and Contract
Award notices. (Please see www.simap.eu.int/EN/pub/src/welcome.htm for format of OJEU
forms).

The facility should meet the following minimum requirements:

 ................................................................
 .....................................
 .........................................
 ................................
 .....................................................

A further requirement is to maintain the facility in line with changes in policy and directives
set out by the [contracting authority] or EU in relation to procurement. Full details of the
arrangements for updating the facility i.e. revised thresholds or timeframes, should be
provided.

2.7. 5 Procurement Guidance and Templates for standard procurement documents

e.g. Request for Tender (RFT), Contract, etc.

The NPPPU is developing procurement guidance and standard templates to provide

information and assistance to those involved in the procurement process. A new area of the
site is required where this material can be accessed by users.

2.8 Website Design

The successful tenderer will deliver and maintain the current overall design of the website and
will be responsible for the redesign of the site as required (details are contained in Sections
2.6 and 2.7 above). The design of the existing site, including redesigned elements, must
continue to meet all of the following criteria:
 meet the requirements of the [contracting authority] and support the functionality
required;
 have a graphical layout which is visually to the highest standards;
 cater for users with impaired vision (in terms of text colour and contrast with
background);
 be easy to navigate for both new and expert users and cater for those who rely on
adaptive technologies; in this context the site must be put through the 'Bobby' test.
 allow for future development and enhancement to the extent that additional features
can be added, if required, with minimal disruption to ongoing service provision;
 an Irish language version of the site must be maintained. The site (excluding the
tender notices themselves) has been translated into Irish already and this should be
kept consistent with the English version.

2.9 Overall Site Development, Management and Maintenance Strategy

Tenderers must provide the following:-
 details of the structure, methods and management process including staffing and
backup arrangements which they will put in place to ensure that all the requirements
laid out above are implemented;
 details of the proposals for familiarisation with the site and handover
arrangements with the current service provider;
 details of the experience, qualifications and expertise of the staff they would propose
to allocate to this project if their tender is successful, including details of their
involvement in the named reference site(s);
 a brief description of the technical facilities at the disposal of the party providing the

52
said services, including the measures in operation for ensuring that a quality service
will be delivered.

53
3. Format of Tender

Tenders must address all the requirements and must be in the format requested below.
Tenders not in this format will not be considered.

3.1 General Information

The following must be supplied:

(a) Name, address, telephone number, e-mail address and fax number of tenderer.

(b) Name, address, telephone number and e-mail address of any third parties involved
in tender.

(c) Confirmation of acceptance by the tenderer and any third parties of the conditions
of tender described in Section 5 of the invitation to tender.

(d) Details of previous experience of staff being assigned to this task in implementing the
type of project specified at 2.

(e) Details of relevant reference sites [must be at least at least one] where similar work
has been carried out. ....................................

(f) An appropriate financial profile for the last three years must be provided including, in
the case of corporate entities, independently audited accounts. Where a tenderer is
trading for less than three years accounts for each year of trading must be provided.

3.2 Proposals

3.2.1 Textual response on a point-by-point basis outlining how the requirements

specified in section 2 will be met.

3.2.2 Such response to include a statement of the number of elapsed days (lead time)
required for the initial implementation of all additional services i.e. launch, pilot phase (if
applicable) and initial full commissioning of site.

3.3 Warranties, Maintenance and Support Services

3.3.1 Tenderers must confirm that the level, extent and nature of the maintenance and
support requirements including any associated warranties described in Section 2 of this
document will be fully met. Where this support would be provided by a third party, the
name, address and telephone number of such party must be disclosed.
3.4 Schedule of Costs

All costs must be quoted in euro (€), exclusive of VAT and the schedule must take the
following format:

3.4.1 Individual cost figures should be provided for each of the following

 Cost of provision of service for site management and maintenance for 2 years
 Cost of familiarisation period and handover from current service providers
 Cost of redevelopment work required on existing site at 2.6 together with any
additional ongoing maintenance costs
 The total cost of the tender

54
3.4.2 Tenderers should provide daily rates for the following:

Project Management
Business Analysis
Software Development
Training/documentation

These will be the maximum rates to be charged for any additional work, including change
control, which arises during the initial contract. The [contracting authority] reserves the
right to seek to negotiate lower rates for any such additional work.

3.4.3 Confirm that the tender holds good for 90 days after the closing date for receipt of
tenders.

3.4.4 Indicate the applicable rate of VAT in respect of each of the services being
proposed.

3.4.5 Give details of any other costs, taxes or duties, which may be incurred. Any
licensing costs associated with any part of the proposal should be clearly identified.
Proposals should clearly indicate any discounts to which the [contracting authority]
would be entitled, including public sector discounts, early payment discounts, forward
contract discounts and any other discounts.

3.5 Contract

A contract will be concluded with the tenderer whose tender is deemed to be the most
economically advantageous subject to agreement on conditions of contract. [The contract
will not be concluded / take effect until 14 days after unsuccessful tenderers have
been notified of the result of this tendering procedure 2].

Please note the following:

(a) Any terms and conditions in the proposed contract does not imply acceptance by the
[contracting authority]
(b) All works carried out shall be governed by the Laws of Ireland and subject to the
exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of Ireland.
(c) The [contracting authority] may cancel the tender process at any time prior to a
contract being entered into.

3.6 Other information.

Tenderers should provide details of their proposed transition arrangements. Tenderers

should provide any other information, which may be relevant to this proposal.

2
This time delay in signing a contract is mandatory for contracts covered by EU procurement
Directives in order to observe a recent judgment of the European Court of Justice [Alcatel: Case
C-81/98]. The Court ruled that unsuccessful tenderers must be notified of the result of a tender
competition and, if aggrieved or feel rules have not been observed, given a reasonable
opportunity to request a review of the decision before a contract is put in place.

55
4 Examination and Evaluation of Tenders [for Open Procedure] 3

4.1 Tenders will be examined initially by reference to the following :

a) Completeness of proposals and tender documentation as specified in Sections 2 and 3

(Specification of Requirements and Format of Tender) of this document

b) Stated ability of the tenderer to meet all the requirements specified in Section 2 of this
document;

c) Statement that none of the circumstances listed in Regulation 53 of S.I. 329 of 2006
apply to the tenderer (Regulation may be appended to RFT – Appendix A);

d) Technical capacity and financial standing as evidenced by the information requested

at 3.1 (d), (e) and (f) above [see footnote 2 below].

Only those tenders who satisfy conditions in relation to the above will be eligible for
inclusion in the award process.

4.2 Award Criteria

The contract will be awarded to the most economically advantageous tender of those
meeting the specifications set out in Section 2, and not otherwise validly excluded, on the
basis of the following award criteria [scored from 200 marks weighted as indicated]:

 Quality and technical merit of proposals for providing service detailed in Section 2 of
this RFT (70 marks)
 The management and service structure proposed (30 marks)
 Expertise and skills of assigned personnel in providing the type of services described
in Section 2 [including experience of at least one relevant reference site] (30 marks)
 Time frame for delivery of service (20 marks)
 Proposed cost of providing service [including ongoing site maintenance as detailed at
2.1-2.5 above, redevelopment work required on existing site at 2.6 above and cost of
providing the enhanced functionality at 2.7 above] (50 marks).

4.3 During the evaluation period clarification may be sought in writing from tenderers.
Responses to requests for clarification may not materially change any of the elements
of the tenders submitted. No unsolicited communications from tenderers will be
entertained during the evaluation period. A number of the most competitive tenderers
may be invited to make presentations on their proposals for the purpose of
elaboration, clarification and / or aiding mutual understanding. Invited tenderers must

3
In an Open Procedure all interested are invited to submit tenders. However, a contracting authority
may request information relating to technical and financial capacity, experience etc. and only evaluate
tenders from those who possess the minimum capacity required.

In a’ Restricted Procedure’ interested parties will have been invited to submit expressions of interest.
They will have been requested to provide details of professional, technical, economic, financial etc.
capacity and expertise. Only those that meet minimum requirements, i.e. those that the contracting
authority is satisfied has the capability and expertise to carry out its contract, will be supplied with the
full tender documents [RFT]and invited to submit tenders. [See Section 6.13 of the Competitive
Process Guidelines on this section of the website and Articles 45 to 50 of Directive2004/18/EC].

56
 be in a position to make such a presentation around [date]. Any proposed
subcontractors may be required to participate in the presentation.

5 General Conditions of Tender

Tenders should be prepared in English or Irish and are subject to the following:

5. 1 This Request for Tender shall form part of the contract documents 4. The contract
will not be concluded / take effect until 14 days after unsuccessful tenderers have been
notified of the result of this tendering procedure [as per paragraph 3.5 and footnote 1].

5. 2 The [contracting authority] will use its best efforts to hold confidential any
information provided by tenderers subject to their obligation under law, including the
Freedom of Information Act which came into force on 21 April, 1998. Tenderers should
indicate, when tendering, what parts of their tenders are commercially sensitive and which
they consider should be kept confidential should an FOI request be received. The
[contracting authority] will consult with tenderers about any such sensitive information
before making a decision on any FOI request received. Similarly, the [contracting
authority] requires that all information provided pursuant to this invitation to tender will be
treated in strict confidence by tenderers.

5. 3 Tenderers should be aware that national legislation applies in other matters such as
Official Secrets, Data Protection and Health and Safety.

5. 4 Tenderers must have regard to statutory terms relating to minimum pay and to
legally binding industrial or sectoral agreements in preparing tenders.

5. 5 Information supplied by tenderers will be treated as contractually binding.

However, the [contracting authority] reserves the right to seek clarification or verification
of any such information.

5. 6 Any conflicts of interest involving a tenderer must be fully disclosed to the

[contracting authority] particularly where there is a conflict of interest in relation to any
recommendations or proposals put forward by the tenderer.

Any registerable interest involving the tenderer and the [contracting authority], members of
the Government, members of the Oireachtas or their relatives must be fully disclosed in the
response to this RFT, or should be communicated to the [contracting authority] immediately
upon such information becoming known to the tenderer, in the event of this information only
coming to their notice after the submission of a bid and prior to the award of the contract.
The terms 'registerable interest' and 'relative' shall be interpreted as per section 2 of the Ethics
in Public Office Act, 1994.

5. 7 Before a contract is awarded the successful tenderer (and agent, where appropriate)
will be required to promptly produce a Tax Clearance Certificate, or in the case of a non-
resident tenderer, a statement from the Revenue Commissioners confirming suitability on
tax grounds. Non-residents should contact the Office of the Revenue Commissioners,
Revenue Residence Section, Government Offices, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary. In addition,
contractors must retain records of tax reference numbers for any subcontractors where
payments exceed €650 (incl. VAT).

Tenderers should note that the provisions of Department of Finance Circular 43/2006 apply
and the [contracting authority] may require sight of Tax Clearance Certificates for any

4
It is recommended that a draft contract document be issued with the tender documentation .

57
subcontractor where payments exceed €2,600. Forms are attainable from the following
address: Office of the Revenue Commissioners, Sarsfield House, Limerick. Where a Tax
Clearance Certificate expires within the course of the contract, the [contracting authority]
reserves the right to seek a renewed certificate. All payments under the contract will be
conditional on the contractor(s) being in possession of a valid certificate at all times.

5. 8 In the event of a group of respondents jointly submitting an acceptable offer, the

contract will be awarded by the [contracting authority] to one contractor who acts as the
agreed prime contractor. The prime contractor is responsible for the delivery of all services
provided for under the terms of the contract and shall assume all the duties, responsibilities
and costs associated with the position of prime contractor.

(a) The successful tenderer shall be responsible for the delivery of all services provided for
within the contract on the basis of a fixed price agreement set at the beginning of the
contract. Prices quoted in the tender cannot be increased during the currency of the tender.
Similarly, terms and conditions cannot be altered.

(b)The [contracting authority] retains the right to withhold payment where a contractor has
failed to meet his/her contractual obligations in relation to the delivery of services to an
acceptable level of quality.

5. 9 The [contracting authority] will not be liable in respect of any costs incurred by
tenderers in the preparation of tenders or any associated work effort.

5. 10 Responses to this RFT will be evaluated in their own right. No recognition will be
given to information previously submitted.

5. 11 The [contracting authority] is not bound to accept the lowest or any tender
submitted.

5. 12 The [contracting authority] will have copyright ownership of any graphics used on
the proposed site.

5. 13 Tenders must be completed in accordance with the format specified in Section 3.

Tenders, which are incomplete, will not be evaluated.

5. 14 Three (3) copies of the tender in a sealed envelope, marked “Tender for ........”
and addressed to:
Name ...................
Address ...................

should be delivered to the above address not later than [local time] on [day and date].

Tenders delivered after this time will not be accepted.

5. 15 Under EU Public Procurement Directives the [contracting authority] is required to

publish a Contract Award Notice in the OJEU containing certain information, including the
name of the successful tenderer, relating to the award of this contract.

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Appendix A

REGULATION 53 OF S.I. 329 OF 2006

Exclusion of certain persons from being considered for awards of public contracts

1. In considering whether or not to award a public contract, a contracting authority shall

exclude from consideration any person who, to the knowledge of the authority, has been
convicted
of an offence involving―

a) participation in a prescribed criminal organisation, or

b) corruption, or

c) fraud, or

d) money laundering.

2. In order to give effect to paragraph (1), the contracting authority―

a) shall, whenever appropriate, ask a candidate or tenderer to supply the documents

referred to in paragraph (6), and

b) may, if it has doubts concerning the personal situation of the candidate or

tenderer, also seek information that it considers relevant from an appropriate
competent administrative or judicial authority.

3. If the information referred to in paragraph (2)(b) concerns a candidate or tenderer

established in another Member State, the contracting authority may request the co-operation
of the competent authority of that other State. Such a request may extend to any agent of the
person and, in the case of a body (whether incorporated or unincorporated), extend to any
person who is concerned in the direction or management of the body.

4. In considering whether to award a public contract, a contracting authority may exclude

from consideration any person―

1. who is subject to a bankruptcy or insolvency procedure or process of a kind

specified in paragraph (5), or

2. who has been found guilty of professional misconduct by a competent authority

that is authorised by law to hear and determine allegations of professional
misconduct against persons that include the operator, or

3. who has committed grave professional misconduct provable by means that the
authority can demonstrate, or

4. who has not fulfilled an obligation to pay a social security contribution as

required by a law of the country or territory―

(i) where the person ordinarily resides or carries on business, or

(ii) where the authority is established, or

5. who has not fulfilled an obligation to pay a tax or levy imposed by or under a law

59
 of the country or territory―

(i) where the person ordinarily resides or carries on business, or

(ii) where the authority is established, or

6. who has provided a statement or information to the authority or another
contracting authority knowing it to be false of misleading, or has failed to provide
to the authority or another such authority a statement or information that is
reasonably required by the authority for the purpose of awarding the public
contract concerned.

5. A person is subject to a bankruptcy or insolvency procedure or process for the purpose

of paragraph (4) if ―

a) the person is bankrupt or the subject of a bankruptcy petition, or

b) the person, being a body corporate, is being wound up or the subject of

proceedings for compulsory winding up, or

c) the person’s affairs are being administered by a court, or the person is the subject
of proceedings in which it is sought to have the person’s affairs so administered, or

d) the person has entered into an arrangement with creditors, or

e) the person has suspended business activities, or

f) the person is, in the opinion of the contracting authority concerned, in any
situation analogous to any of those mentioned in subparagraphs (a) to (e) under a
law of the State, another Member State or a third country relating to bankruptcy
or insolvency.

6. A contracting authority shall accept as sufficient evidence that a person is not liable to
be excluded under paragraph (1) or under subparagraph (a), (b), (d) or (e) of paragraph (4)―

a) a copy of the relevant judicial record, or

b) in the absence of such a copy, a certificate issued by a competent judicial or

administrative authority in the country or territory where the person ordinarily
resides or carries on business, or the authority is established,
showing that the particular subparagraph does not apply to the person.

7. Without limiting paragraph (6), a contracting authority shall accept as sufficient

evidence that a person is not liable to be excluded under subparagraph (d) or (e) of paragraph
(4) a certificate issued by the Collector General of the Office of the Irish Revenue
Commissioners showing that the relevant subparagraph does not apply to the person.

8. If a question arises as to whether paragraph (1), or subparagraph (a) or (b) of paragraph

(4), applies to a person and either―

a) the relevant judicial or administrative or competent authority in the country or

territory in question does not issue documents of the kind referred to in paragraph
(6), or (7), or

b) although it issues documents of that kind, they do not cover the case in question,

60
 the contracting authority concerned shall accept instead a declaration made by the
person on oath or, in the case of a Member State where there is no provision for
making a declaration on oath, a solemn declaration made by the person before a
person authorised for the purpose under a law of that Member State.

9. The following are authorised authorities for the purposes of paragraph (8):

a. competent judicial or administrative authority of the country or territory where

the person ordinarily resides or carries on business or where the contracting
authority is established;

b. a notary or a competent professional or trade body located in that country or

territory.

61