How we tender for goods and services

The contract value guides our procurement procedures, including how many quotes we need or if a tender process is necessary.

Guidelines for quotes and tenders

The following are our current thresholds:

• £1 to £10,000 - minimum of 1 quote in writing (local if possible) - alternatively an approved Framework may be used
• £10,000 to £25,000 - obtain a minimum of 2 quotes, attempt to seek at least one from a local supplier - alternatively an approved Framework may be used
• £25,000 to £100,000 - obtain a minimum of 3 quotes, attempt to seek at least one from a local supplier - alternatively an approved Framework may be used
• £100,000 to £213,477 including VAT (goods and services) - obtain a minimum of 4 quotes, attempt to seek at least one from a local supplier - alternatively an approved Framework may be used
• £100,000 to £5,336,937 including VAT (works) - obtain a minimum of 4 quotes, attempt to seek at least one from a local supplier - alternatively an approved Framework may be used
• Over the Find a Tender threshold - invite tenders (procurement law and guidance must be followed for contracts over the FTS thresholds)

Different types of tenders

We use several tender processes depending on the project:

Open tender

In an open tender, any supplier who responds to an ad gets tender documents via the In-Tend Portal. This is typical for standard items or services with a small market.

Restricted tender

For the restricted procedure, interested suppliers first undergo a pre-qualification assessment. We use this for non-standard or large goods and services where having too many bidders wouldn't be practical.

Negotiated tender

Sometimes, for complex projects or when previous tenders weren't successful, we use negotiated tenders.

Competitive dialogue

This method is for complex projects where the requirements aren't clearly definable from the start.