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Route 5: run a public contracts regulations (PCR) compliant process for high value purchases over the threshold

Department For Education

September 14
13:32 2023

This is legally required for purchases over the PCR threshold unless you use a framework agreement.

This guide is for information only. Different rules can apply depending on what you are buying. You should get legal advice and make sure you fully understand the EU procurement directives and UK regulations.

If what you are buying is over the PCR procurement threshold then you must follow this process.

You should:

  • assess the market
  • see if you can get what you need using our find a DfE approved framework tool or another framework agreement
  • prepare your contract and invitation to tender
  • consider whether to use the restricted procedure to reduce the number of bids you have to assess later, or the open procedure to let anyone bid

Then you must:

  • advertise a contract notice using the UK e-notification service, Find a Tender (FTS).
  • make your invitation to tender and all other documents available electronically from the time that the contract notice is published
  • assess all the bids you get fairly, using the same process
  • choose the supplier that offers best value for money
  • award the contract to the highest scoring bid supplier

If you need help running your procurement, you can get free and impartial help and support from procurement specialists.

Assess the market

Do some research before you advertise to:

You could also:

  • speak to potential suppliers
  • ask other schools what they have done
  • consider using a selection stage
  • publish a prior information notice (PIN) in Contracts Finder and, if applicable, Find a Tender (FTS).

If you do speak to suppliers, make sure that any information you give them at this stage is given to everyone else who bids later and that your specification, contract and tender documents do not favour any particular supplier.

This is sometimes called soft market testing.

Prior information notices (PIN)

A prior information notice lets suppliers know about things youre planning to buy in the future. You publish them in Contracts Finder. You may also need to publish them in Find a Tender (FTS) in addition to Contracts Finder if any subsequent contract notice is likely to require publishing in FTS.

Use these to:

  • build up interest with suppliers
  • speed up buying things later

If you want the PIN to cover several contracts get legal advice first.

Reduce the number of bids you get using the restricted process

If you want as many suppliers as possible to bid then use the open procedure. If you want to select which suppliers you will assess bids from, then use the restricted procedure, which is a 2 stage process. Its sometimes called a selection stage.

It is used to score and rank the suppliers so you can assess the top bids. Decide in advance how many bids you will assess it must be at least 5.

Do this if:

  • you think lots of suppliers will reply to your advert
  • suppliers must have specific skills, qualifications or experience
  • the bid they have to supply will be particularly complicated or costly to write

Use the standard selection questionnaire to:

  • gather simple and consistent information
  • find out if the supplier is suitable for the contract, not how they would handle the job

The open procedure can be used to reduce suppliers as well, by stating clearly in the tender documents that any bidder who does not have the specific skills, qualifications or experience will not have their bid scored.

When to send your questionnaire

When advertising be clear there are 2 stages, the:

  • selection stage the questionnaire
  • award stage when you assess the bids

Ask suppliers to do the questionnaire first and only issue an invitation to tender letter to those people who score highly enough or among the highest scorers up to the number you are shortlisting.

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