Route 5: run a public contracts regulations (PCR) compliant process for high value purchases over the threshold
How schools can buy high value things and comply with PCR procurement rules, including advertising a contract and running a buying process.
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.
Do some research before you advertise to:
- see if you can get what you need using our find a DfE approved framework tool
- see how many possible suppliers there are
- find the best places to advertise
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’.
A prior information notice lets suppliers know about things you’re 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.
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. It’s 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 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.
Make all your documents available online from the time you post your advert on the Find a Tender service. Include:
- a covering letter
- a timeline
- how to ask questions
- how to submit a bid
- your specification
- a list of things you want prices for
- your award criteria
- the level of service you want
- any contract management needs, such as regular meetings or contact
- if needed, an invitation for suppliers to give a demonstration
- the standard selection questionnaire if you are running a selection stage
- the proposed contract drafted as far as possible
Before you send out your invitation to tender, decide your ‘award criteria’ – the system you’ll use to decide which bid:
- best meets your specification
- is the ‘most economically advantageous’ – the one that best combines price and quality
Give each criteria a:
- range of scores – such as 1 to 5, with 5 highest
- weighting – a figure you multiply the score by depending on how important the criteria is
Example If price is most important, you might give it a weighting of 5, so a score of 4 would be worth 20.
Your award criteria must be available to all the bidders.
We recommend you get legal advice on this process.
Set deadlines for:
- the clarification period – when suppliers can ask you questions
- when suppliers must submit their bid
- the standstill period
- when you will award the contract
When setting deadlines, give enough time for suppliers to:
- understand your needs
- ask questions and use the information in your response
- write a detailed proposal with costs
There are specific timescales you need to use. Find out more in the EU procurement directives and UK regulations and get legal advice.
You must publish a contract notice on FTS.
Your advert must:
- clearly explain what you want
- tell suppliers what information you need
- explain where the invitation to tender and documents are available online
- set the timeline
- say that you’ll be using evaluation criteria to award the contract to the ‘most economically advantageous tender’
You can advertise in other places suppliers will look, such as:
- the government’s Contracts Finder service
- newspapers
- education publications or websites
- trade magazines
However, you must advertise on FTS first and make sure everyone gets the same information.
You should have a ‘clarification stage’ – a time when suppliers can ask questions. No matter who asks the question, in most cases you should generally:
- send the question and reply to all the bidders with the same information
- anonymise the question, so no one knows who asked it
Do not reveal copyrighted or sensitive information. Ask suppliers if they are happy for you to publish their question and your answer. If they say no, consider their request and give them the opportunity to withdraw the question if you do not agree.
We recommend that you:
- ask suppliers to email the questions
- keep a log of the questions and the answers you gave
Assess the bids using the award criteria you sent out in your invitation to tender.
You must:
- not open any bids before the deadline
- treat all bids fairly and equally
- record how you made your decisions so you can defend them if you have to
- keep confidential, secure, auditable records
- award the contract to the highest scoring bidder
You can ask people to clarify things in their bid if it is not clear. You must not negotiate over bids.
Who should assess the bids
It’s best to have at least 2 people assess each bid. When they’re finished they should compare their scores and:
- discuss where they’ve scored differently
- reach an agreed score
This is called moderation. Be aware, the more people involved, the harder it can be to reach an agreed score.
Bring in a specialist if you need expert knowledge to assess criteria, such as a quantity surveyor for building projects or an expert in EU procurement law.
Keeping records
Keep a record of all scores, comments and moderation decisions. There’s software you can buy or you can use a spreadsheet.
Tell all unsuccessful bidders who won and tell them at the same time.
Your letter must include:
- the name of the winning bidder
- the award criteria you used
- the scores for the winning bid
- the reasons for the decision, including the characteristics and relative advantages of the successful tender
- when the standstill period ends
- their scores and feedback
If an unsuccessful bidder asks for the actual cost of the winning bid, you should give it to them as long as it does not reveal any commercially sensitive information. You do not have to give a detailed breakdown of costs.
If an unsuccessful bidder asks for feedback you do not have to give it. If you do then you should:
- only comment on their unsuccessful bid – do not share details of anyone else’s
- try to give positive feedback
Our advice is to avoid feedback meetings. If you do decide to meet face-to-face, keep notes during the meeting and have more than 1 member of staff present.
Write to them saying they won. Your letter must include:
- the award criteria you used
- their scores
- why you think their bid is the most economically advantageous
- when the standstill period ends
- their scores
The letter is an invitation to finalise a contract. But make it clear that:
- you’ll only award them the contract if the standstill period passes without a challenge from another supplier
- there are no commitments, and no work should begin, until both of you have signed the contract
If for any reason they decide not to go ahead with the contract, you can award the contract to the second-highest scoring bidder, if you reserved the right to do so in your original tender documents, or you can rerun the process.
By law, you must have a ‘standstill period’ of at least 10 calendar days between telling the bidders your decision and awarding the contract.
If the period ends on a non-working day extend it to the end of the next working day.
During the standstill period, if an unsuccessful bidder challenges the fairness of the contract award decision or process, you must contact them and explain that you’ve conducted a fair assessment process and that you’ve kept good records.
Depending on the nature and seriousness of the challenge you may want to get legal advice before responding.
If they then make a legal challenge do not finalise the contract. Seek legal advice and wait to see if the court reviewing the challenge grants ‘interim measures’. If so, you should then wait for the outcome of the legal proceedings.
After the standstill period, tell the successful supplier that you’re placing the contract with them. Your school or organisation and the supplier should then sign the contract.
If they agreed to use your terms and conditions, check that the signed copy they send back is exactly the same as the copy you sent them.
The last copy of the terms and conditions sent by either side is the one that is legally binding, so make sure that you’re the last to sign.
You must place a contract award notice on FTS within 30 days of awarding the contract.
If you placed an advert in Contracts Finder, place a notice of your contract award there too.
Set up a meeting with the supplier to finalise the management and payment arrangements, clarify key performance indicators and agree how you will work together. You must publish a notice of the contract award on FTS within 30 days of signing the contract.
On rare occasions, you may need to stop the bidding process. You must send a notice on FTS telling them what has happened.
If you stop the process while suppliers are preparing, or have submitted their bids, you should tell them, along with your reasons.
If this happened very late in the process – from the evaluation period onwards – you may be at risk of a legal challenge.
You cannot abandon the process because the highest scoring bidder is not the supplier you want.