Guidance on Tendering

Sometimes procurement consists of a single stage, but in the case of the current advice commissioning there will be a two-stage procurement process, conducted separately for each of the 3 areas of the city (north, central, south). At the outset this process is open to any potential bidder.

The first stage, the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire or PQQ, covers what are sometimes known as the “technical requirements” or “quality criteria”, whereby potential providers have to demonstrate their organisational capacity to deliver public services before any service-specific proposals are considered. In the case of consortia, all partners will need to meet the technical requirements.

Organisations which successfully pass the PQQ stage will then receive an Invitation to Tender (ITT), sometimes referred to simply as the “tender”. This will contain questions about how you would deliver the proposed service. It will usually spell out the weighting attached to the questions to indicate how you can achieve the 60% or 70% of the total marks linked to quality.

There will usually be a simple spreadsheet template for you to indicate your costs and how they are made up.

Once PQQ’s and ITT’s are issued there should be an opportunity to post questions and receive answers.  The questions (anonymously) and the answers given will be open to all bidders.

In the case of the PQQ, previous examples from Manchester City Council and the Legal Services Commission may indicate what is to be expected.

Some of the policy templates drafted by MACC for other commissioning exercises may prove to be of use here. 

Please note that MACC is in the process of updating policies on Safeguarding and Criminal Records, in particular. You can check the latest position with MACC’s Safeguarding Worker.