An Introduction to the Council's Procurement Procedures
All procedures relating to the purchasing of goods and services are established in the Council's Contract Procedure Rules.
- Purchases up to £3,000, (£5,000 for works and consultants) managers choose suppliers and negotiate prices, seeking to use contract arrangements where they exist;
- For purchases between £3,000 and £25,000 (£50,000 for works and consultants) quotations are invited from at least three suitable companies;
- For purchases in excess of £25,000 (£50,000 for works and consultancy) a select list of tenders is compiled following the publication of an advertisement on the South East Business Portal, and relevant trade journals.
- Contracts where the value exceeds the threshold laid down by the EU of £139,893 for goods and services and £3.497 million for works must be advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU).
Selection Criteria
When you respond to a tender notice you will be asked to complete a supplier appraisal questionnaire. This enables us to assess an organisation's suitability for delivering a particular service, product or works. This short-listing process saves both our time and yours in effort being unnecessarily spent on completing tender documents by companies who do not meet the selection criteria.
Tendering for Contracts
If you are successful in your application for a tender you will be forwarded a set of tender documents.
Tender Evaluation
Returned tenders are evaluated against a predetermined criteria usually by a panel of officers. Evaluation will focus on examining how the tender proposals will deliver the service (quality) and the cost of the service (price) over its whole life. This would give consideration to operating costs, repairs and maintenance charges, anticipated lifespan and ultimate disposal fees for any product or service.
Contract Monitoring
Wealden District Council monitors its performance as part of its duty under Best Value and this includes monitoring the provision of goods or services on our behalf. You will be expected to provide the services in accordance with the requirements set out in the contract documentation and your proposals to carry out the contract.
E-procurement
E-procurement is playing an increasingly important part in the tendering process. For example, the Council produces its OJEU notices on-line as well as using e-mail to transmit supplier appraisal questionnaires and tender documents. The Council is also looking to develop online ordering and automating the payment of invoices. Depending on the nature of the contract, you may well be asked about the extent that you are able to deal with us by these methods.
