Background
All government departments and many other public sector organisations must follow the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Government Procurement Agreement and the EU procurement directives. They are implemented in the UK by the Public Contracts Regulations, which regulate how we buy works, goods and services. These rules promote non-discriminatory, equal and transparent competition between suppliers of goods, services or works.
If the value of a contract is estimated to be over the current EU procurement directives threshold, and it is not exempt from the regulations, we are required to publish a contract notice in the supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). The contract notices allow potential suppliers to express an interest in any of the proposals advertised.
From 1 January 2010 the thresholds were revised to £101,323 for supplies and services and £3,927,260 for works: these thresholds are revised every two years and are net of VAT
The directives allow four procedures under which procurement can be undertaken as follows:
- competitive dialogue;
- negotiated procedure;
- open procedure;
- restricted procedure.
We generally use the restricted procedure, under which we limit invitations to tender to a set number of firms, the number being stated in the contract notice. If you reply within the time limit specified and enclose all the information requested, we will consider whether to invite you to tender.
You will not be invited to tender if you do not send all the information requested within the time limit specified by an OJEU contract notice, even if you had previously expressed an interest.