Annex C Third Party Grant Procurement Rules

Procurement process

Item cost or aggregated contract value up to £999.00 (inc. VAT)

1 quote must be received and retained.
Best value for money must be obtained and reasonable care taken to obtain goods or services of appropriate quality at a competitive price.

Item cost or aggregated contract value £1,000.00 - £11,999.00 (inc. VAT)

A minimum of 2 Quotations must be sought from competitive sources. The quotes must be based on the same specification and evaluated on a like for like basis.
Best value for money must be obtained and reasonable care taken to obtain goods or services of appropriate quality at a competitive price.

Item cost or aggregated contract value £12,000.00 - £29,999.00 (inc. VAT)

A minimum of 3 Quotations must be sought from competitive sources. The quotes must be based on the same specification and evaluated on a like for like basis.
Best value for money must be obtained and reasonable care taken to obtain goods or services of appropriate quality at a competitive price.

Contract value £30,000.00 -£89,999.00 (inc. VAT)

Seek 3 competitive quotes using Sell2Wales quick quotes if a public body.
If not a public body, demonstrate that 3 quotes have been obtained from the open market. To do this, you must advertise your requirement in regional or specialist press stating a deadline for submission of quotes thereby giving the open market an opportunity quote. The minimum deadline should be 14 days from the date of publication; however, this could be longer if the items are specialist or complex, or you consider a longer notice period appropriate
A documented record of the quotes sought the evaluation process and the decision to award must be recorded.

Contracts greater than £90,000.00 (inc. VAT)

Full Competitive tendering process (Outside the scope of this guidance)
Please email communitiesspf@pembrokeshire.gov.uk for information on this.

Avoiding conflict of interest with quotes

Any perceived or actual conflicts of interest between you and the suppliers that are asked to provide quotes - for example getting quotes from related companies, must be explained in the supporting documentation. Where conflicts potentially exist, mitigating action must be taken and documented.

Other funders

If a project involves any other or additional funding streams, these Third-Party Grant procurement rules must be followed as a minimum for the total estimated spend of the requirement.

Avoiding conflicts of interest

We recognise that it is possible that applicants / developers or persons connected with them (such as relatives, business partners or friends) may wish to tender for a contract being offered by the applicant / developer. This is acceptable, but applicants will need to ensure that the tendering process is undertaken in an open, transparent and fair manner, as outlined above, which does not give one person or company tendering any advantage over another, which arises from the process. Appropriate measures to prevent identify and remedy any conflicts of interest must be carried out.

If an applicant / developer or any person connected with them directly or indirectly, has a financial, economic, political, or other personal interest which might be perceived to compromise their impartiality and independence in the context of the procurement procedure:

The applicant / developer, or any other person or party with an interest must that interest in writing to the Project Officer who will offer advice accordingly

Specifications and evaluation criteria must not be biased or tailored to favour one solution or any one party over another.

The person or party with an interest should take no part whatsoever in any of the tender evaluation procedures to ensure that the process is fair to all. It is acknowledged that the grant applicant may be required to provide the final approval.

Every stage of the procedure must be recorded formally.

The purpose of these guidelines is to ensure that there is fairness in the spending of public money and that the integrity of the applicant is not compromised.

Changes to the specification or contract

If any changes are required to the specification after seeking quotes/tenders which affects the original scope of the requirement, a new procurement exercise may need to be undertaken to ensure that best value for money has been achieved. This may occur where there are unforeseen additions to the original requirement, where tenders are received in excess of the available budget, where funding levels change etc. The grant applicant must inform the Project Officer who will offer advice accordingly.

Failure to observe the relevant procedures outlined above will be considered non-compliant and may lead to a withdrawal of the grant offer and potential claw-back of funding.

In cases where you are unable to satisfy the requirements of these procedures you must always inform the project manager.

If you have any queries as to how these procedures should be applied, you should contact the project manager for clarification and further guidance.

Do’s and Don’ts of tendering

Do’s

Ensure that any potential conflicts of interest are highlighted at the earliest opportunity.
Comply with the appropriate rules
Ensure that the specification is precise and not in excess of the requirements.
Ensure that the Evaluation Criteria is directly relevant to the subject of the contract
Complete and retain full records for future reference and audit purposes
Ensure that quotes/tenders are evaluated on a ‘like for like’ basis.
Ensure that you treat suppliers in an open, transparent, and non-discriminatory manner.
Allow sufficient time for companies to quote
Ensure the value of the Goods/Works or Service is estimated accurately at the start of the process to apply the correct procurement process. The aggregated value must be used where applicable.

Don’ts

Don’t skew the specification to eliminate or to discriminate against suppliers i.e. limit the specification to a specific brand.
Don’t change the scope of the specification once distributed.
Don’t change the evaluation criteria during the process.
Don't give companies too short notice to quote.
Don't enter too much detail verbally with suppliers regarding specific questions. The same information must be provided to all suppliers to ensure the process is fair
Don't reveal prices to potential suppliers.
Don't breach confidentiality.
Don't open quotes/tenders in advance of the deadline.
Don't consider submissions received after the deadline.

UK Shared Prosperity Funding