Posted by Hailey Thomson on January 26, 2010
Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don’t think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without talking about the other.
Bill Gates
Today’s technology is high-speed and merciless; if you miss even one of the latest trends, you’ve practically fallen off the face of the earth. As purchasers move more and more into eProcurement and eTendering, are the suppliers, particularly SME’s feeling left behind?
Do not let eTendering pass you by! Keep reading and have a quick look at my checklist to help you with future eTenders… MORE
Posted in Tender Tips | Tagged: eProcurement, eTendering, eTenders, Future of Procurement, procurement, Public contracts, public sector, tender, Tenders Direct | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Diane Callaghan on January 20, 2010
PQQs (Pre-Qualification Questionnaires) are issued by awarding authorities, as part of a restricted procedure, in order to short-list suitable suppliers before inviting them to tender. Suppliers are assessed according to pre-set criteria based around financial position, ability to deliver, quality standards, and the company’s policies on health and safety, sustainability and equal opportunities.
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Posted in General Procurement, Tender Tips | Tagged: business opportunity, Office of Government Commerce, OGC, PQQ, Pre-Qualification Questionnaire, procurement, Public contracts, public sector, suppliers | 1 Comment »
Posted by Tim Williams on January 19, 2010
Gordon Brown & Herman van Rompuy
In yet another sign of the growing political significance of public procurement the UK Government today published a compact designed to reinvigorate EU economies and build “strong, sustainable and balanced” growth. Gordon Brown met EU President Herman van Rompuy at Downing Street this morning to discuss the economic strategy, as well as climate change, security and the situation in Haiti.
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Posted in Politics of Procurement | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Tim Williams on January 8, 2010
I’m a bit late with this blog post, what with Christmas and New Year and then all the snow, but better late than never.
On January 1st 2010 new financial thresholds, which govern whether or not a contract must be published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), came into force. There’s often a lot of confusion about these thresholds, so I’ll try and explain a bit of the background as well as the actual values of the new thresholds.
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Posted in General Procurement, Procurement Law | Tagged: Government Procurement Agreement, GPA, IMF, International Monetary Fund, OJEC, OJEU, procurement, Public contracts, Public Procurement directives, public sector, SDR, Special Drawing Rights, Tenders Direct, thresholds, Utilities, WETP | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Hailey Thomson on December 23, 2009
As most people start their Christmas holidays this week, or for those suffering from post-Christmas party sore heads, we will keep the procurement topics light and cheery. I have taken a typical Tenders Direct Christmas and replaced as many words as I could with CPV codes. Have a guess at what you think they might be! The answers and some festive Tender Notices are after the jump.
Tenders Direct has sent the 22321000 with lovely 22411000 and trimmed our 39298910 with glimmering 31522000. The 15981320 is falling, the 18315000 are hung, and the 44423100 are ringing. Nigella herself won’t have seen a better looking 15112120 with a side of 03222315 and yummy 03221440 we smother the whole lot in 15893300. With full bellies, we put our 18318300 on and leave 15511000 and 15821200 out for St. Nic and some 03221112 for Rudolph. Off to our 39143110 to dream of 15831000 03222334 and wait for our 18530000. We awake to hear St. Nic on our 44112400 and soon to make his way down the 45262610. In the morning, we were overjoyed to find everything we had asked for and more, 37532000, 37480000, 38650000, 37821000, and a few 18315000 full of 09111100, I wonder who those belong to…?
CPV code answers and some festive tenders >>
Posted in General Procurement | Tagged: Christmas, Common Procurement Vocabulary, CPV Codes, Festive, Holidays, procurement, tender, Tenders Notices | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Tim Williams on December 23, 2009
Harsh medicine?
On Sunday the Remedies Directive (2007/66/EC) was implemented in UK legislation. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) had drafted ‘The Public Contracts (Amendment) Regulations 2009′ (SI 2009/2992). While in Scotland the Scottish Procurement Directorate (SPD) had drafted The Public Contracts and Utilities Contracts (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2009 (SSI 2009/428). Although both sets of regulations are implementing the same European Directive there are some significant differences in the detail, although in this article I’ll only concentrate on the main effects.
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Posted in General Procurement, Procurement Law | Tagged: award criteria, ineffectiveness, Office of Government Commerce, OGC, OJEC, OJEU, procurement, Public contracts, Public Procurement directives, public sector, remedies, Scottish Procurement Directorate, selection criteria, SPD, standstill, tender, VEAT, voluntary ex ante transparency | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Diane Callaghan on December 7, 2009
One of the best ways to improve your tender and PQQ (Pre-Qualification Questionnaire) submissions is to learn from the mistakes and merits of your previous efforts. You can do this by requesting feedback on your performance during the tender process from the awarding authority.
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Posted in Procurement Law, Tender Tips | Tagged: Feedback, OGC, OJEC, OJEU, PQQ, procurement, Public Procurement directives, public sector, suppliers, tender | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Hailey Thomson on December 1, 2009
Do you find yourself scrambling with every tender the day before the deadline, frantically gathering your tender documents and cutting and pasting 75% of the tender together? It might be time to put together your Bid Team. Putting together a great tender is more than one person’s job, however in a busy working environment it tends to fall on the laps of busy people who already have the weight of the world on their shoulders. Take a stand! Start your Bid Team today!
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Posted in Tender Tips | Tagged: bid, Bid Manager, Bid Team, Public contracts, public sector, resources, Winning Tenders | Leave a Comment »
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