production and distribution of nene valley...

FURTHER COMPETITION UNDER ENTER FRAMEWORK REFERENCE NUMBER, LOT NUMBER AND NAME OF CONTRACT

This Further Competition has been issued to all eligible suppliers in [enter LOT number] of [enter framework reference number].

To assist you, three documents have been provided:

Document One – Further Competition document (including the timetable) (this document) – to be returned.

Document Two –Specification Document Three – Order Form and Call Off Terms and Conditions

When completed, please return one copy of the response document (this document) via: https://www.eastmidstenders.org. Please ensure that submitted documents do not exceed 10mb is size.

To be received no later than [insert time] on [insert date].Late submissions will be disregarded.

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https://www.eastmidstenders.org/

DOCUMENT ONE

FURTHER COMPETITION DOCUMENT

CONTENTS PAGE1 Introduction 3

1.1 How this Further Competition is structured 3

1.2 Commissioning background 3

1.3 Procurement Timetable 4

1.4 Instructions on responding to this Further Competition 5

2 Procurement Approach 7

3 Scoring 8

3.1 Non-Price Scoring 8

3.2 Price Scoring 8

4 Criteria for Assessing Bids 9

5 Further Competition Return 10

6 Contacts 10

7 Further Competition Questionnaire 11

8 Pricing Schedule 13

9 Appendix 1 - Form of Tender 14

10 Appendix 2 – Collusive Tendering Certificate 15

11 Appendix 3 – Confidential and Commercially Sensitive Information 16

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1. Introduction

1.1 How this Further Competition is structured

This Further Competition is arranged in three sections:

Document One, this document, contains instructions on how to respond to the Further Competition; gives an indication of the timetable being followed; provides bidders with details of the scoring, criteria and weightings which will be used to evaluate bids, and details of how and when to respond.

Document Two contains the detailed Specification for the works, goods or services required.

Document Three contains the Order Form and Call Off Terms and Conditions which apply to this Further Competition and to the ensuing contract.

1.2 The commissioning background

1. This contract is issued by [insert name of Council] (the Council).

2. The eventual contract between the successful tenderer and the Council will consist of the following documents:

a. Documents 1 to 3 of this Further Competition developed by the Council. b. ‘Letter of Acceptance’ confirming the conditions of acceptance of the Further

Competition.

3. [Insert summary of current provision or reason for requirement as applicable]

4. The expiry date of this existing arrangement is [insert date] / currently there is no arrangement in place [delete as appropriate]

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1.3 Procurement Timetable

1.3.1 The procurement is intended to follow the time-line below:

1 Further Competition documents Issued [insert date]

2 Deadline for clarification questions [insert date]

3 Deadline for Submission of Bids [insert date]

4 Evaluation [insert date]

5 Clarification meetings / demonstrations and/or site visits (if required)

[insert date]

6 Standstill Period [insert date]

7 Contract Award [insert date]

8 Contract Start [insert date]

[The framework guidance will tell you whether or not a standstill period is required, if not the row in the table above can be removed]

1.3.2 The Council reserves the right to amend this timetable and steps 4 to 8 are provided for indicative purposes only.

1.3.3 Throughout the evaluation process, the Council reserves the right to seek clarifications from tenderers, where this is considered necessary to achieve a complete understanding of the bids received. In any event, should the evaluation panel, in its reasonable judgement, identify a fundamental failing or weakness in any Further Competition then that Further Competition may, regardless of its other merits, be excluded from further consideration.

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1.4 Instructions on responding to this Further Competition

1. Bidders shall treat the details of this document and other Further Competition documents as private and confidential. However such information may be disclosed as necessary for the purpose of obtaining quotations or Insurance quotes.

2. All costs associated with the preparation and submission of the response to this Further Competition shall be borne in full by the Bidders. The Council will not be liable, under any circumstances, for any costs or charges incurred in submitting a Further Competition or for the preparation of the Contract with the successful Bidder.

3. The Form of Tender and the Collusive Tendering Certificate in the Further Competition document must be signed by the Bidder.

4. Any recommendations, reservations or comments pertaining to the information included in the Further Competition documents should be clearly stated.

5. No unauthorised alterations or additions should be made to the Form of Tender, the Collusive Tendering Certificate or to any other component of the Further Competition documents.

6. Bids must not be qualified but must be submitted strictly in accordance with these documents. Bidders must not make unauthorised changes to Further Competition documents.

7. Bidders may submit (an) alternative bid(s); but must also submit a conforming bid.

8. The submission should include all the information which the Bidder feels necessary for an accurate and equitable evaluation of their proposal. Reference should not be made to previously submitted information and all aspects of the Further Competition request are to be addressed. The submission is to be self contained. The Bidder should not rely on the Council’s past experience as Further Competition evaluations will be based only on the information contained within the submission.

9. Bidders will not be allowed to alter their submissions after the closing date, except that arithmetical errors may be corrected.

10.Any queries arising from these documents which may have a bearing on the offer to be made should be raised with the Council’s contact (Section 6) as soon as possible via https://www.eastmidstenders.org and in any case by the stated deadline for questions.

11.Submissions and supporting documents must be written in English. Any mistakes or alterations should be initialled by the tenderer.

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12.Bidders should note that the Further Competition document may include a requirement for element(s) of the works, goods or services to be completed by a certain date as shown.

13.Bids should be submitted via https://www.eastmidstenders.org no later than the deadline indicated on the front of this document. Late bids will not be considered. Fax and e-mail submissions will not be considered even if received before the date indicated.

14.Bidders must hold their Bid open for acceptance for a minimum of ninety (90) days from the date of opening.

15.The Council does not bind itself to accept the lowest or any bid.

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2. PROCUREMENT APPROACH

1. This is a Further Competition process. You may ask questions in writing via https://www.eastmidstenders.org regarding the Further Competition documents or the details of the service required.

2. Where questions raise an issue of general interest or clarification then the question and answer will be circulated to all Bidders. The identity of the originator will not be disclosed.

3. Once the deadline for receipt of Bids has been reached, the Council will evaluate the written submissions.

4. The responses to the evaluation questions will then be scored and weighted as explained in Sections 3 and 4 below.

5. Once the submitted bids have been evaluated, the Council reserves the right to hold clarification meetings/seek demonstrations and/or site visits with/from no fewer than the top two highest scoring bidders. No new criteria will be introduced at these meetings/demonstrations/site visits, rather on the basis of these meetings/demonstrations/site visits the Council may choose to revise a bidder’s score for each response to an evaluation question, either up or down, to reach a final score.

6. The Council will then make its award decision, if appropriate.

7. The procurement timetable is detailed in section 1.3 above, and the Further Competition evaluation process is shown below.

8. The process is subject to the completion of formal contract documents.

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3 SCORING

3.1 Non-Price Scoring

Each written Further Competition will be scrutinised by a small panel and each scoring criteria (Section 4 below) will be awarded points out of 10 according to the following scale.

Score Criteria for awarding score

0 No response or response is unacceptable

1 Response is very weak and almost unacceptable, and/or is inconsistent or in conflict with other responses

2 Response is weak, and falls well below expectations in a number of respects

3 Response is weak and is below expectations, not meeting the required standard in most respects, and/or is lacking/ inconsistent in others

4 Response is below expectations but meets the required standard in some respects

5 Response meets expectations regarding the required standard

6 Response slightly exceeds expectations regarding the required standard

7 Response is good and is well above expectations in some respects

8 Response is very good and is well above expectations in most respects

9 Response is outstanding and meets the required standard in all respects and exceeds some or all of the major requirements

10 Response is exceptional and meets the required standard in all material respects and exceeds all the major requirements, and represents significant added value

The weighting available for a score of 10 points is shown below in Section 4, and a pro rata weighting will be applied to the score.

3.2 Price Scoring

The lowest cost bid will receive the highest mark in the Price sub-heading, all other bids will receive a pro rata score based on that lowest Price.

The total price figure will be converted into points by applying the formula:

Lowest price bid divided by tenderer’s price multiplied by 100%

For example, if the tenderer’s price is £100, and this is also the lowest price, the calculation is 100 x 100% = 100% of the available weighting

100

A bid of £200 would be calculated as 100 x 100% = 50% of the available weighting.

200

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4 CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING BIDS

Section Headings and Sub-Headings Maximum Score Available

Weighting Within Sub-Heading

Quality

[Insert summaries of the method statement questions being asked here]

[Insert quality weighting]

[Insert question weightings]

Price (exclusive of VAT)

[Insert details of the pricing breakdown being requested]

[Insert price weighting]

[Insert price breakdown weightings]

Total 100%

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5. Further Competition Return

When completed, please return one copy of the response section below via https://www.eastmidstenders.org

To arrive by no later than [insert time] on [insert date] .]

6. CONTACTS

In the event of any queries or requests for further information arising from this Further Competition, please make contact via https://www.eastmidstenders.org

Note that the Council cannot accept the return of completed Bids by e-mail.

If the Council considers any question or request for clarification to be of material significance, both the query and the response will be communicated, in a suitably anonymous form, to all service providers / suppliers who have responded.

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7. FURTHER COMPETITION QUESTIONNAIRE

7.1 Bidder’s Contact details

Bidder contact details for enquiries about this Further Competition:

7.1.1 Organisation

7.1.2 Name of person completing this Further Competition questionnaire

7.1.3 Postal address

7.1.4 Country

7.1.5 Phone

7.1.6 Mobile

7.1.7 E-mail

7.1.8 Website

Please will you:

provide a written response to each of the following questions. the boxes below will expand as required. ensure your responses are typed in Arial font 12. ensure that you do not include any company logos, branding or imagery on your

submitted response document. Failure to do so may result in your exclusion from this tender. [delete as appropriate]

QUALITY

1 [Insert sub-headings if required]

Question 1.1: Word limit: insertinsertAnswer:

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Question 2.1 Word limit: insertinsertAnswer


Question 3.1 Word limit: insertinsertAnswer:





[Insert further questions as required

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8. PRICING SCHEDULE

Please complete the following Pricing Schedule, ensuring that you have provided a cost in each of the relevant boxes. All prices quoted should exclude VAT.

Please note that all additional costs must be identified and inserted in row [insert] of the table below, additional costs which are not identified at this stage cannot be charged for during the Contract Term unless by the express agreement of the Council.[Insert or delete rows in the table below as required]

Price Area Price

A. [insert]

B. [insert]

C. [insert]

D. [insert]

E. Additional Costs

Total

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APPENDIX 1: FORM OF TENDER

Date: ..........................................

Further Competition for Borough Council Wellingborough: name of contract, framework reference number & LOT number]

I/We the undersigned, hereby tender and offer to provide the Contract as listed above which is more particularly referred to in the Further Competition documents supplied to me/us for the purpose of tendering for the provision of the Contract and upon the terms thereof.

I/We undertake in the event of acceptance of our Tender to execute the Contract within 15 business days of such acceptance and if required in the interim provide the Contract in accordance with the Contract if necessary.

I/We understand that the Council reserves the right to accept or refuse this Tender whether it is lower, the same, or higher than any other Tender.

I/We confirm that the information supplied to you and forming part of this Tender including (for the avoidance of doubt) any information supplied to you as part of my/our initial expression of interest in tendering, was true when made and remains true and accurate in all respects.

I/We confirm that this Tender will remain valid for 90 days from the date of this Form of Tender.

I/We confirm and undertake that if any of such information becomes untrue or misleading that I/we shall notify you immediately and update such information as required.

I/We confirm that the undersigned are authorised to commit the Bidder to the contractual obligations contained in the Further Competition and the Contract.

Signed by:

Name…………………………………….

Position………………………………….

Name…………………………………….

Position………………………………….

for and on behalf of

………………………………………………………………………………………(Bidder)

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APPENDIX 2: COLLUSIVE TENDERING CERTIFICATE

We certify that this is a bona fide tender, and that we have not fixed or adjusted the amount of the tender by or under or in accordance with any agreement or arrangement with any other person. We also certify that we have not done so and we undertake that we will not do so at any time before the hour and date specified for the return of this tender any of the following acts:

(a) Communicating to a person other than the person calling for these tenders the amount or approximate amount of the proposed tender, except where the disclosure, in confidence, of the approximate amount of the tender was necessary to obtain insurance premium quotations required for the preparation of the tender;

(b) Entering into agreement or arrangement with any other person that he shall refrain from tendering or as to the amount of any tender to be submitted;

(c) Offering or paying or giving or agreeing to any sum of money or valuable consideration directly or indirectly to any person for doing or having done or causing or having caused to be done in relation of any tender or proposed tender for that said work or thing of any sort described above.

In this certificate, the word ‘person’ includes any persons and any body or association, corporate or unincorporated; and ‘any agreement or arrangement’ includes any such transaction, formal or informal, whether legally binding or not.

SIGNED: ………………………………………………………………………..

NAME: …………………………………………………………………………

ON BEHALF OF:……………………………………………………………………

DATE: ………………………………………………………………

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APPENDIX 3: CONFIDENTIAL & COMMERCIALLY SENSITIVE INFORMATION

The following form should be submitted with all bids to indicate areas of the submission that are considered to be either confidential or commercially sensitive.

Confidential material is as defined in Section 41 of the Freedom of Information Act, 2000 (FoI) where the disclosure of the information would constitute an actionable breach of confidence.

Commercially sensitive material is as defined in Section 43 of the FoI Act and relates to ‘information, the disclosure of which would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of any person’.

Bidders should make themselves aware of the definition of each term as well as the circumstances in which FoI & Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) exemptions apply.

Confidential Material Checklist

Name of Organisation:

Confidential documents not for disclosure to third parties under the FoI & EIR. The Council may be obliged to disclose information in or relating to this bid following a request for information under FoI or EIR therefore please outline in the table below all items which you consider are genuinely confidential and which are not for disclosure in respect of your application.

Information / Document Reference / Page No.

Reasons for non-disclosure

The applicant acknowledges that the confidential information listed in this schedule is of indicative value only and the Council may be obliged to disclose it following a request under FOI or EIR.

The Council shall act reasonably and use its discretion, ensuring that the latest guidance/case law is taken into account, when making a decision to release or withhold information pertaining to the above if it is requested. By indicating what information believed to be confidential the Council will consider those views however the Council will make the final decision to disclose information or not.

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Commercially Sensitive Material Checklist

Commercially sensitive documents not for disclosure to third parties under FoI or EIR

Name of Organisation:

The Council may be obliged to disclose information in or relating to this bid exercise following a request for information under FoI or EIR therefore please outline in the table below items which are considered genuinely commercially sensitive and which are not for disclosure in respect of this bid.

Information / Document Reference / Page No.

Reasons for non-disclosure (cite exemption(s) to be considered)

Duration of confidentiality

The applicant acknowledges that the commercially sensitive information listed in this schedule is of indicative value only and the Council may be obliged to disclose it pursuant to a request under FOI or EIR.

The Council shall act reasonably and use its discretion, ensuring that the latest guidance/case law is taken into account, when making a decision to release or withhold information pertaining to the above if it is requested. By indicating what information is believed to be commercially sensitive the Council will consider those views however the Council will make the final decision to disclose information or not.

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