Procurement Guidance

Evaluating a Tender

Commercial Services
May 2018
 Evaluating a Tender
Introduction
A tender evaluation shall consist of a commercial (price) and technical (quality) assessment.
The commercial assessment is carried out using an arithmetical calculation, and Procurement
and provide support on this part of the evaluation.
The quality evaluation is carried out by a tender evaluation panel who shall score the tenderers
responses to a set of questions based on a pre-determined scoring mechanism. It is one of the
most important stages of the procurement process. This stage of the process ensures that:
 The contract award decision is objective
 The decision-making process is fair, transparent and auditable
 The Council can demonstrate best value in the tender process
An evaluation panel of at least two people should be established and consist of individuals with
the technical knowledge of the procurement to evaluate tenders. The evaluation panel
membership should be consistent throughout the entire evaluation process, from Supplier
Suitability Stage (SSQ) to any presentations or site visits. The evaluation panel should be able
to withstand any scrutiny and not be associated in any way with any of the tendering suppliers.
Prior to the commencement of the evaluation, each panel member will be required to declare
any potential conflicts of interest utilising the form within Appendix 1.
The role of Procurement in the evaluation panel is to ensure an impartial and objective
approach is taken to the evaluation of tenders.

The Quality Evaluation

The evaluation criteria and scoring methodology will have been determined at the Specification
stage and published to Tenderers in the Invitation to Tender (ITT).
Once tender responses are returned, the panel members should read and score the quality
aspects of the tenders independently using the pre-defined evaluation criteria and scoring
system. The panel must provide a detailed explanation of why they scored each question the
way they did. A full justification of scoring is essential as this will form the basis of the standstill
letters (if applicable) and debriefing unsuccessful bidders if requested.
Evaluation Tips:
1. Confidentiality must be maintained throughout the evaluation process.

2. Evaluators should be sufficiently familiar, experienced and prepared with the project
requirements.

3. Only information contained in the tender submissions or clarification process should be

evaluated. Assumptions or prior knowledge should not influence the evaluation of the
tenders.

4. The rationale of evaluators’ scores must be detailed in the comments section of the
score sheet. By law, we must provide feedback to tenderers on how their bid compared
against the evaluation criteria; evaluators’ comments are used for this purpose.
Procurement Guidance – Evaluating a Tender

5. All records, emails, notes and other exchanges about the tenders should be retained for
audit purposes as they could be subject to a Freedom of Information Act disclosure and
may be requested by suppliers.

Scoring Matrix

The scoring matrix will be provided within the ITT and will provide guidance to tenderers with an
indication of how you would determine what a “Very Good”, “Good”, “Acceptable”, “Marginal”,
“Poor” and “Unacceptable” response would be.

Rating Criteria Score

 Demonstrates a very good understanding of requirements and a
Very Good very good level of capability/commitment 5
 Complete confidence in abilities
 Very good prospects for contractual or partnership success

 Demonstrates a good understanding of requirements and a good

Good level of capability/commitment 4
 High level of confidence
 Good prospects for contractual or partnership success
 Demonstrates an acceptable understanding of requirements and
a satisfactory level of capability/commitment
Acceptable 3
 Some minor weaknesses or deficiencies
 Reasonable level of confidence
 Fair probability of contractual or partnership success
 Demonstrates a basic but limited understanding of requirements
 Possibly capable of delivering the requirement to the required
Marginal standards 2
 Some weaknesses or deficiencies
 Limited level of confidence
 Possibility of contractual partnership or success
 Demonstrates a very limited understanding of, or very limited
ability to meet, stated requirements
Poor 1
 Major weaknesses or deficiencies
 Very limited level of confidence
 Low probability of contractual or partnership success
 Fails to meet the criterion in all respects
 Indicates a complete misunderstanding of, or non-compliance
Unacceptable 0
with, stated requirements
 No Confidence in ability
 No prospect of contractual or partnership success
During the Evaluation Process
Do's and Don’ts of Tender Evaluation

Do Don't

Make note of areas that are unclear for 'Read between the lines' or make assumptions
clarification with the bidder

Read the submission at face value and score Make changes to the evaluation criteria during
based on the information provided the process - the criteria MUST be the same as
that published in the ITT

Ensure full justification for scoring is

provided for each question to assist with
debriefing

A justification should be provided against each scored question that provides evidence the
Bidder has met the key points.
Examples of Satisfactory and Unsatisfactory justifications

Satisfactory Unsatisfactory

The bidder has exceeded the minimum Excellent Response

standards of services and/or quality of goods
by …..(Give examples on the specifics of the
related to the bid)

The bidder has demonstrated good Good Response

understanding of the services/goods/works by
providing information including…..(Give
specific examples of why you thought it was a
good answer)

The bidder met the criteria of the specification, Ok

the bid was a basic response due to the lack
of information on…..(Give examples of what
was missing from the bid, what could they
have done better)

The answer provided did not demonstrate an Not enough information/Never answered
understanding of the services/goods/works the question.
required, (Give examples of why you feel the
answer did not meet the criteria, what was
missing, what could they have done better)

Once the panel have completed their evaluation, the evaluation matrix will need to be completed
with support from Procurement.
Procurement Guidance – Evaluating a Tender

The Commercial Evaluation

The price or commercial aspects of the tenders will be evaluated separately and may require
additional support from Finance.

Presentation/Site Visits
The tender evaluation stage may be accompanied by presentations, off site visits and/or
clarification meetings.
Presentations and external site visits can be included as part of the evaluation process to offer
the opportunity for the evaluation panel to gain a clearer and deeper understanding of the
tenderers’ proposals.
The purpose and anticipated outcomes of the presentations and site visits must be made clear
in the Invitation to Tender (ITT) documentation including details of how the visits will count
towards the overall evaluation of the tender submissions.
Details of any scoring for either the presentation or site visit must be pre-agreed and published
with the ITT documentation.
 Appendix 1

Commercial Services
Conflict of Interest Declaration

Contract Title

Contract Reference CCS/

It is incumbent on any member of the Tender Evaluation Panel to declare and “conflict of interest” which
might compromise and individuals impartiality, or be reasonably be perceived as doing so, in the award of
a contract. Any such “conflict of interest” should be notified immediately via this form to the Head of
Commercial Services.

Types of an “interest”, including:

 Financial interests;
 Non-financial professional interests
 Non-financial personal interests; or
 Indirect interests where an individual has a close association with an individual who has a
financial interest, a non-financial professional interest or a non-financial personal interest in a
procurement decision

This form should be completed by any person who is part of the evaluation process for a tender and has
declared a potential conflict of interest.

Please enter details in the relevant sections below:

1. You are declaring a conflict if you or your family members have any ownership, part-ownership or
directorship (including non-executive directorships) held in private companies or PLCs who are
likely to enter the tender process.

2. You are declaring a conflict if you or your family members have any majority or controlling
shareholdings in organisations likely to enter the tender process.

3. You are declaring a perceived conflict or for another reason not mentioned above which could
give rise to a conflict of interest during the tender process.

I declare that the interest(s) stated are those which I consider to be relevant and material to this
procurement process.

I further declare that in the event of such an actual or potential conflict coming to light at any time
during the tender evaluation process I shall immediately notify the Head of Commercial Services of
such actual or potential conflict. I acknowledge that the Head of Commercial Services may take such
decision as they consider appropriate in that event, including discontinuing my involvement in the
tender evaluation process.
Procurement Guidance – Evaluating a Tender

Signed: ________________________________________ Date: __________________________

Upon completion this form should be sent to the Procurement Category Manager: [Enter the
Procurement Lead’s email details]