Why we love low value tenders - Tenders Direct Blog

Low value tenders are those which aren’t published on Find a Tender as they are below UK public procurement thresholds. For SMEs and companies who have no experience of working in the public sector, low value tenders are a good starting point. Securing a few low value contracts allows smaller suppliers to build up a body of work that can help them go after higher value notices in the future.

The five key benefits of low value tenders

1. They give SMEs a chance to win work – Due to the size and scope of low value tenders, larger Multi-National Companies (MNCs) are unlikely to bid for them, opening the door for more SMEs to bid.
2. Less competition – As the tenders are not sent to the OJEU and published European wide, this cuts down the number of potential companies who are aware of the opportunity.
3. Fewer restrictions – No Pre-Qualification Questionnaire’s (PQQs) are required for low value tenders meaning less ‘red tape’ compared to high value notices. Pre-Qualification questionnaires are now prohibited on low value tenders due to the Public Contract Regulations 2015. This topic was covered in this blog: The ban on PQQs and restrictions for use of supplier questionnaires
4. Transparency – For all tenders, all procurement documents (specifications, tender scope and deliverables etc.) are now available on publication of the tender, meaning that suppliers have a chance to view all the information before weighing up their decision to bid.
5. More frequent opportunities – Low value tenders are below £122,976. It’s likely that the timespan of the contract will be shorter than an OJEU notice – for an OJEU tender it could be a long as 4 years before it needs to be retendered, but for a low value it could be a short as 1 year. This means that if a supplier misses out the first time it won’t be long until they can re-bid.

Where are the low value opportunities?

Public sector buyers can publicise low value tender opportunities on several of the 500 sites that exist for UK public procurement. To save suppliers time when looking for these opportunities Tenders Direct searches all these sites for suppliers and delivers suitable tenders right into their mailbox.

Tenders Direct is the UK’s most accurate tender alert service. We are the only provider to guarantee that with us – you’ll never miss a tender. For more information about how we can help you find and win more work in the public sector, please visit www.tendersdirect.co.uk or call us on 0800 222 9009

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