[NB: these pages are subject to ongoing review following the change in procurement law (Public Contract Regulations 2015 has been replaced by the Procurement Act 2023 and secondary regulation as from 24 February 2025). The Council will continue to adapt its processes accordingly in line with emerging guidance]

This guide is designed to assist current and potential suppliers to the Council and provides guidance on how the Council procures goods, services and works.

It must be noted that following the transition to PA 23 in February 2025,

The Council adopts a fair and transparent approach in its procurement activities and will ensure all potential suppliers are treated equally when competing for business.

In carrying out a covered procurement (public contract), the Council will have regard to

(a) delivering value for money;

(b) maximising public benefit;

(c) sharing information procurement policies and decisions;

(d) acting, and being seen to act, with integrity.

(2) treat suppliers equally unless a difference between exists that justifies different treatment.

(3) take all reasonable steps to ensure a supplier is not put at an unfair advantage or disadvantage.

(4) have regard to any barriers to participation faced by SMEs and how these can be removed.

When procuring contracts the Council follows all current UK legislation and regulation relating to public procurement. The Council also has its own Contracts and Financial Procedure Rules, which are available to view on the Council’s website here.

PA 23 was implemented on 24 February 2024 and replaces PCR 2015 (Public Contract Regulations 2015). If you want to find out more how this affects you as a supplier, you are invited to view a dedicated page here Information and guidance for suppliers - GOV.UK. You can also find details of supplier orientated webinars that cover aspects of PA 23.

There are three main monetary value thresholds which direct  how the Council procures, in all cases frameworks may be used as an alternative:

Up to £99,999 (services) and £249,999 (works) - Officers seek issue requests for quotations (RFQ)

From £100,000 to £250,000 not subject to UK Procurement Act 2023 - Officers will advertise formal open tenders on the Council's tender portal (subject to ongoing review following the implmentation of the Procurement Act 2023 in February 2025.

Supplies and Services over £214,904 (incl VAT) and Works over £5,372,609 (incl VAT) will be advertised as detailed witnin the next section 'Advertisment of Tenders'. 

See also the table below for further guidance:

 

Where it is possible, the Council publishes invitations to tender and contracts with an estimated value of over £100,000 via an electronic tendering tool (Complete Tender Management system or CTM) to manage some procurements, details of current opportunities and registration can be found on this link: https://uk.eu-supply.com/login.asp?B=WCC

Regulated procurements that fall under the control of the Procurement Act 2023 are will be advertised through the above portal and via the UK enhanced Find a Tender and Central Digital Platform (CDP) service. The CDP is where all UK contracting authorities publish information relating to procurement and where suppliers must input their commonly used information. 

Contracts Finder may occasionally be used for contracts award under procurements covered by the previous PCR 2015. Contracts awarded by Winchester City Council can be found on this link (Contract Register).

The Council has implemented an electronic tendering tool through EU Supply (Complete Tender Management system or CTM) to manage some procurements and communicate with Tenderers. Please register for free on the CTM portal to ensure that you are kept up-to-date with any developments in your areas of interest. To register on CTM, follow the instructions and link below

Tenders that fall under the control of the UK Public Contract Regulations 2015 (and subsquent legislation to be implemented) are currently advertised through the above portal and via the UK Find a Tender service. 

NB: subject to review in line with the Procurement Act 2023) where a Central Digital Platform will be introduced

Find a Tender Central DIgital Platform : Find a Tender

CTM Registration:

https://uk.eu-supply.com/login.asp?B=WCC

1. Click on “New supplier registration”
2. Complete the Supplier Registration form.

**IMPORTANT NOTE:  To prevent duplication, before registering on CTM, please check if your company is already registered by simply e-mailing your company name to uksupport@eu-supply.com.

The first registered person will automatically become the "administrator” of the company, who then will have the opportunity to create further company users, including users with administrator privileges

Company Contact Information: This is the primary contact information Authorities will use to contact a company. It is recommended that you provide the company general contact details e.g. sales@abc.com.

Administrator information: These are the details of the Administrator. If the user details are the same as the Company contact information then click on the “Copy from above” button. Otherwise enter information manually. It is important that the email address is correct as this will be the address used by the system to send alerts and messages.

If you need any further assistance with registration or have any queries about using CTM, please contact EU Supply as follows:

E-mail: uksupport@eu-supply.com

Telephone: 0800 840 2050 during office hours ONLY (08.00 to 17.00)

The council will work in collaboration with appointed supplier(s) to maximise all opportunities to strive for continuous improvement in service delivery and efficiencies. A contract management framework is in place which sets out minimum best practice activities and frequency that these should occur, as well as who should be involved, depending on the risk of the contract. All contracts are risk assessed and the level of risk i.e low, medium or high risk will be set out in any procurement and contract documentation. Please see the "documents" section on the right hand side of this page to access the framework.

NB: these processes, rules and teminolgy will change follow the implementation of PA 23 in February 2025

The Council does not always advertise its requirements as a tender or quote. In accordance with best practice and the Council's Contract Procedure Rules, the Council may identify a suitable framework, with existing suppliers. In this scenario, the Council will be obliged to conduct an exercise with those party to the framework only and this will not be an open tender. Alternatively, a DPS can be used, which is designed to allow new participants to join subject to assessment and subject to how the DPS has been set up.

The type of procurement procedure conducted by the Council is driven by the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules (CPRs) and UK legislation for public procurement. Primarily, the total value and category (goods, works, services, utilities) of the procurement determines the procurement route. Details of thresholds for each is detailed above under “How Do We By” but in brief, the approaches fall into three main categories:

1. Request For Quotation (RFQ)

2. Open Tenders – below ‘UK Threshold’

3. Above UK Threshold – requires a regulated procedure in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023.

RFQs

The Council will issue a request to selected companies, the minimum number of which is determined by value.

Open Tenders

A formal open competitive tender, may be published online via the Council’s tender portal and advertised as a tender opportunity via the Find a Tender Service. The Tender will be open to anyone who registers unless the exercise is undertaken using a framework or DPS where only those attached to these facilities can apply

Tenders subject to advertisement via Find a Tender / The Procurement Act 2023)

An appropriate UK procurement procedure will be undertaken and advertised in strict accordance with the regulations. The tender will be open to anyone who applies and in line with the adopted process. The Council typically will use Open and Competitive Flexible Procedures going forwards for tenders that require advertisement in Find a Tender. Below is a brief overview of the procedures the Council  used under PCR 2015. Under the new legislation, there is more flexibility under the Competitive Flexible Procedure and will most likely be two stage, not unlike the Restricted Procedure listed below.

• Open procedure - where any business may tender in response to the advertised contract. There is only one step.
• Restricted procedure - where only selected bidders are invited to submit a full tender after initial application. There are two steps.
• Competitive Dialogue procedure - where the public authority opens a dialogue with potential bidders on larger contracts, a negotiation stage is optional. There are two to three steps.

For regulated / covered procedures, there will be a mandatory pass or fail element to the evaluation, which will be detailed in the documentation. For Covered Procurement under PA 2023, suppliers will need to register with and complete information in the Central Digital Platform. For any additional information required on a specific tender, suppliers will need to complete a Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ), based on the Cabinet Office standard PSQ. This replaces the existing Selection Questionnaire (SQ), which can be found in the section below (Winchester City Council Selection Questionnaire). An example of the PSQ will be available shortly and will be completed on line within the Council’s tender portal. For RFQs, these may be just short questions in the document. 

Where possible and appropriate, the Council will continue to actively seek to engage with suppliers before a live tender process begins. This has long been an approach taken by the Council and this is now a formal requirement under PA 2023.

In the past this has consisted of an open invitation via a PIN (Prior Information Notice) to inform would be bidders of an in person open forum or webinar. These events were open to all who responded and a consisted of a presentation of the Council’s intended process and aims along with open questions and answers. These Q&A were shared in writing with the attendees and were also made available in any resulting tender process. The idea of these events is to allow open dialogue before the formalities of any tender process begins and allows the process to be shaped for a better outcome for all concerned. 

The Council with these key principles which are equality and transparency but adapting where necessary in line with guidance. Primarily, any events will be open to all and any detail on the discussions (open questions and clarifications) will be made available to all publicly. Please review any public notices for details of forthcoming events and how to register.

There are usually two elements to any competitive procedure, large or small and will vary in complexity dependent on the value and process used.

 

1. The Council will state Selection Criteria, which is usually pass or fail and more often than not be based on mandatory standards that are required to perform the contact and will around economic and technical aspects. In some procedures, these questions are based on the standard (PA 2023) Procurement specific questionnaire (PSQ) developed by the Cabinet Office. The PSQ  replaces the Selection Questionnaire used under PCR 2015. A Winchester City Council Specific Questionnaire will be developed for each new project to be completed online within the Council's tender portal.  

 

1. The Council will state Award Criteria that will be used determine an outcome and these will be stated in the documents. The Council will always look for Best Value during contracts and procurement procedures. In the majority of exercises, the Most Advantageous Tender (MAT) evaluation model will be chosen by the departmental officers. This model assesses ‘qualitative’ and ‘quantitative’ aspects, ie not just the (lowest) price. The Council’s agreed price vs quality ratio is 60:40 in favour of price but in some circumstances, this may be varied or a price only model may be approved and justified as appropriate.

Where a Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) is used, it will based on the version published here  and will be completed on line for your convenience . The majority of questions are pass / fail and based on a standard format developed for use across all public sector procurements. The essence of this questionnaire is to reduce the administrative burden and duplication. A PSQ will be created for each project as required and not be too disimlar to the current Standard SQ - example ^{(pdf, 226kb)}

NB: a Winchester City Council PSQ example will be added here soon 

See detail here https://www.winchester.gov.uk/business/opportunities-to-work-with-the-council/how-we-buy-a-supplier-s-guide/payment-insurance

Please see this page for the Council's general terms and conditions for goods and services and also for guidance on the types of contract form the Council uses

The Council is committed to promoting delivery Social Value through its supply chain to support the community. Social Value in this context means; skills training, apprenticeship opportunities and graduate programmes, community support, improved environmental outcomes and generating benefits to the local economy. To assist with this, Environmental and Social Value will be included in any evaluation criteria where the 'Most Advantageous Tender' (MAT) model is used. The Council will be looking to see where potential suppliers are actively contributing to solutions that offer a measurable impact on the environment and community. Where relevant, the evaluation criteria will link directly to these aims and cover areas such as:

• Environmental: single use plastic, carbon emissions, recycling, alternative fuels and power
• Social: apprenticeship opportunities, training, employing local people, paying the Living Wage, activities around people related legislation (Modern Slavery Act 2015, Equality Act 2010)

You can read more about sustainable procurement in the council's Guide to Sustainable Procurement, which has been prepared for officers procuring on behalf of the council.