UK tender procedures
Under Public Contracts Regulations 2015 there are four types of tender procedure available to buyers.
Open Procedure
This is open to all suppliers who wish to apply to the advertisement and no limit can be put on those wishing to tender for the contract.
The timescale for the open procedure is 52 days for companies to request, complete and return a tender.
Restricted procedure
This is not open to all Suppliers and a selection is made from those who respond to the advert. This procedure is a two/three stage process.
Companies will be short-listed to receive tenders once they have passed certain pre-selection criteria.
The timescale for the restricted procedure is 37 days for companies to register an interest and 40 days to complete and return a tender.
Negotiated procedure
In this procedure the council can invite one or two suppliers to negotiate the terms and conditions of a contract. This is only available in a very limited number of circumstances and is subject to strict conditions.
The timescale for the negotiated procedure is 37 days for companies to register an interest in the contract.
Competitive dialogue procedure
This can only be applied after the selection process when the council want to develop one or two suitable solutions for its requirements on which chosen suppliers will be invited to tender.
The timescale for the competitive dialogue procedure is 37 days for companies to register an interest in the contract.