New to public sector procurement and want to know the difference between Award & Selection Criteria!
Backward facing
Selection criteria relate to the bidder and are used to assess the bidder’s ability to perform the proposed contract. See the Gov. SQ questionnaire. Selection criteria may only be applied at the pre-qualification stage in order to short-list bidders to be invited to tender or participate in dialogue, under the restricted and competitive dialogue procedures respectively. In an open procedure, the contracting authority will usually evaluate the selection criteria and, if the bidder meets the minimum requirements, will then move on to consider the rest of the tender. Selection criteria may not be assessed during the award stage.
remember selection criteria aims to establish i.e. “can they do it?”
Forward Facing
Award criteria relate to the tender and are used to identify the tender that is the cheapest or the most economically advantageous. Award criteria “how will they do it?”.
In Case Gebroeders Beentjes v the Netherlands [1988] ECR 4635, the (ECJ) clarified that the examination of a bidder’s suitability (that is, the application of the selection criteria) and the award of the contract are two separate processes, although they may be carried out simultaneously. My interpretation is that in an open procedure, you can have an SQ as the first gateway and score the award criteria if they pass the SQ.
In Lianakis v Dimos Alexandroupolis, the ECJ held that the contracting authority was wrong to assess the bidders’ experience at award stage.
Scoring CVs
Evaluate the technical quality and merit of the proposed team. This was intended to identify which of the contracts was most economically advantageous. The technical quality and professional experience of the proposed team has an impact on the technical value of the tender and so on its economic value.”
Sub Criteria
In Lettings International Ltd v London Borough of Newham [2008] EWHC 1583 (QB) the High Court held that the weighttp://uk.practicallaw.com/D-015-0215hting of sub-criteria should also be disclosed, where known.
Tie Breakers
In the unlikely event that 2 bidders end up with the same score, you need a tiebreaker.
- Set additional questions to be answered.
- Re-valuing (up or down) previously specified points.
- Re-opening certain parts of the tender to be re-evaluated in writing or through a presentation.
References/Site Visits
A request for a reference refers to past experience they should generally be taken at PQQ/SQ stage, though they may be used at award stage to support the bidder’s proposal for the tendered service. Most CA will ask for these at Award stage to save time. The same principle applies to Site visits.
Supplier Presentations
If interviews or presentations are scored with as a separate %, all bidders must be invited to participate. Unless the competitive dialogue procedure is used, there is no scope to reduce the number of bidders during the tender stage. If presentations are not scored you can invite bidders to clarify their proposal.