Tag: OJEU

Public Sector Round Up 31.07.20

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Our top OJEU notices for this week include a wide scope of telecommunications work in Manchester, supply of gas materials in London and energy efficient street lighting in Bradford.
In the news this week we have seen plans for major cycle route improvement, significant road repair in the East and a £670m London towers Prior Information Notice.
Below you will also find a breakdown of the number of tenders published this week, along with stats for our featured industries.

Top OJEU contract award notices

Title: United Kingdom-Manchester: Telecommunications services
Short description: A wide scope of work which includes: renewal of ‘core stacks’, design of the proposed network upgrade, production of technical strategies, installation and renewal of life expired fibre optic cabling on Altrincham, Bury, Eccles, and City Centre Lines (approx 70 km).
Published By: Transport for Greater Manchester
Date Published: 28 July 2020
Framework/DPS: No
Value excluding VAT: £7,000,000.00
Number of tenders received: 5
Contractors: telent Technology Services Ltd
View full award notice with your Tenders Direct login HERE

Title: United Kingdom-London: Plumbing and heating materials
Short description: Gas materials (inc boilers and associated plumbing materials) supply contract.
Published By: Hyde Housing Association (The Hyde Group)
Date Published: 30 July 2020
Framework/DPS: No
Value excluding VAT: £5,000,000.00
Number of tenders received: 5
Contractors: City Plumbing Supplies Holdings Ltd
View full award notice with your Tenders Direct login HERE

Title: United Kingdom-Bradford: Maintenance services of public-lighting installations and traffic lights
Short description: Work involving the replacement of old street lighting luminaires with LED units and replace life expired columns
Published by: Bradford Metropolitan District Council
Date Published: 30 July 2020
Framework/DPS: No
Value excluding VAT: £35,000,000.00
Number of tenders received: 3
Contractors: Amey OW Ltd
View full award notice with your Tenders Direct login HERE

UK tenders update and featured industries

759

584

175

Total UK Public
Sector Tenders		Low-Value noticesOJEU notices
Tenders published in the UK between 24.07.20 & 31.07.20

225+

60+

40+

Live Building Refurbishment, Alterations, Conversions, Minor Works, Major Works tendersLive Laboratory Equipment, Consumables, Plastics, & Managed Services tendersLive All Types of Clothing and Personal Protective Equipment tenders
Number of live UK tenders for each featured industry, as of 31.07.20

Develop your tendering skills

Our upcoming course on Public Procurement and Bid Writing on 11 August will equip you with the core skills you need to bid for work in the public sector.

Your tutor for this session is Jamie Edwards, an expert bid writer with over 20 years’ experience. His sessions are interactive, meaning you will be able to ask questions throughout and benefit from tailored feedback and advice.

Visit our website for a full breakdown of the objectives and outcome of the course.

In the news this week

Prime Minister launches £2bn cycling and walking revolution.
The funding will create:
◆ thousands of miles of protected cycle routes in towns and cities.
◆ more low traffic neighbourhoods
◆ more opportunities to access to e-bikes by setting up a new national e-bike programme
◆ a long term cycling programme and budget to ensure a guaranteed pipeline of funding.

Highways England to spend £114m on road improvements.
The comprehensive maintenance programme will include:
◆ Work on the A14 Brickfield bridge, replacing the existing bridge joint bearings, carrying out concrete repairs, resurfacing the road and renewing the road markings.
◆ Work on the M11 junction 11 Mill bridge, Replacing four bridge joints, re-waterproofing the bridge deck and repainting the bearings.
◆ Work on the A14 junction 32 Histon, replacing all road markings and studs where resurfacing has taken place.
◆ Work on M11 River Granta bridge, replacing two bridge joints, re-waterproofing the bridge deck and resurface.

Developers on notice for £670m west London towers scheme
Transport for London are gauging opinion from interested firms before launching the procurement process for:
◆ A block up to 25 storeys high on Bollo Lane comprising 195 homes and 520sq m of commercial space, with an outline planning application for a further 657 homes across eight more blocks of between eight and 18 storeys.
◆ An 800-home scheme currently in pre-application which will be built just north of Acton Town tube station on land which forms part of Ealing Common Depot, a rail depot for the London Underground built in 1905.

Tenders Direct is the UK’s most accurate tender alert service. We are the only service to guarantee that with us – you’ll never miss a tender.
Visit www.tendersdirect.co.uk to find out more.

Public Sector Round Up 24.07.20

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In the news this week we have seen significant funding allocated to improving cycle routes in Wales, preventing flooding in England and making heavy industries more sustainable.
Our top OJEU notices for this week include construction at St. Thomas’ Hospital, parks maintenance in Kingston upon Thames and school cleaning in Slough.
We also have a breakdown of the number of tenders published this week, along with stats for our featured industries.
Across our tender database, there are over 32,400 live notices – from low value tenders to high value OJEU notices.

Tenders published in the last 7 days

752

541

211

Total UK Public
Sector Tenders		Low-Value noticesOJEU notices
Tenders published in the UK between 17.07.20 & 24.07.20

⇧12%

⇧15.5%

⇧6%

ConstructionHealthcareTech
Top performing sectors between 17.07.20 & 24.07.20 – % increase in live tenders in the last 7 days

1010+

370+

230+

Live Construction
Tenders		Live Healthcare
Tenders		Live Tech
Tenders
Number of live UK tenders for each featured industry, as of 24.07.20

In the last week we saw 752 tenders published across all sectors within the UK. with Healthcare seeing a significant 15.5% increase in the number of notices published.

In the News this week

Welsh Government to invest more than £50 million into making Wales a safer place to cycle and walk.
£38 million was announced today to make it safer for children and adults to get to school or work on foot, bike or scooter – in addition to the £15.4 million announced last month. Opportunities to be created from this funding include the building of walkways, cycle routes and footpath improvements.

Government to invest £5.2bn in long-term plan to tackle flooding in England.
◆ £200m go towards developing innovative projects such as sustainable drainage system and wildlife conservation.
◆ £170m to accelerate work on shovel-ready flood defence schemes starting in 2020.
◆ Around 2,000 new flood and coastal defences created.
◆ Up to 336,000 properties in England to be protected by 2027.

£350 million announced to cut emissions in heavy industry and support our nation’s net-zero target.
◆ £139 million to support the transition from natural gas to clean hydrogen power, and scaling up carbon capture and storage (CCS).
◆ £149 million to drive the use of innovative and recycled materials in heavy industry.
◆ £26 million to support more sustainable building techniques
◆ A £10 million boost for state of the art construction tech
◆ Opening up bids for a further £10million for R&D in the automotive sector, to help companies take cutting edge ideas from prototype to market

Never miss a tender ever again

Tenders Direct provides full coverage of public sector tenders of any value across the UK and Ireland, as well as high value notices from the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). We don’t rely on automated systems, AI or CPV codes. Each year our Sourcing and Classification Specialists find, review and publish over 667,500 notices from government databases, websites, trade journals and even news sites, and upload them to our database.

That is why we guarantee you will never miss a tender.
Click the badge to find out more.

Top OJEU Contract Award Notices

Title: United Kingdom-Kingston upon Thames: Parks maintenance services
Short description: Parks management and grounds maintenance — variation to extend contract for 9 months under PCRs 2015, Reg 72(1)(c).
Published By:
The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames
Date Published: 20 Julu 2020
Framework/DPS: No
Value excluding VAT: £26,785,965.00
Number of tenders received: 7
Contractors: Idverde Ltd
View full award notice with your Tenders Direct login HERE

Title: United Kingdom-London: Construction work for buildings relating to health
Short description: Development of the Triangle Site situated at St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road, London.
Date Published: 23 July 2020
Framework/DPS: No
Value excluding VAT: £156,000,000.00
Number of tenders received: 7
Contractors: Bouygues UK (trading as LinkCity)
View full award notice with your Tenders Direct login HERE

Title: United Kingdom-Slough: School cleaning services
Short description: Contracts to provide Ditton Park Academy and Grove Academy with a daily term time cleaning service and periodic cleaning during non-term time.
Published By: SASH Education Trust
Date Published: 23 July 2020
Framework/DPS: Yes
Value excluding VAT: £964,000.00
Number of tenders received: 5 (of which were SMEs: 2)
Contractors: Hayward Services Ltd
View full award notice with your Tenders Direct login HERE

Tenders Direct is the UK’s most accurate tender alert service. We are the only service to guarantee that with us – you’ll never miss a tender.
Visit www.tendersdirect.co.uk to find out more.

Top Contract Award Notices this week 29/05/2020

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In the last week, over 400 contract award notices were published across the UK. Below you will find our top three notices from the last 7 days. 

Title: United Kingdom-Liverpool: Construction work
Short description: Refurbishment of the Seacombe landing stage and booms, and replacement of both passenger and vehicle linkspan bridges.
Published By: Merseytravel
Date Published: 25 May 2020
Framework/DPS: No
Value excluding VAT: £ 5,935,960.70
Number of tenders received: 5
Contractors: John Sisk and Son Ltd

Access the full tender notice with your Tenders Direct login details HERE

Title: UK-Stirling: Castleview Low Carbon Hub
Short description: To develop the current Castleview Park and Ride site into a Low Carbon Hub.
Published By: Stirling Council
Date Published: 28 May 2020
Framework/DPS: No
Value excluding VAT: £1,299,077.18
Number of tenders received: 4
Contractors: FES Support Services

Access the full tender notice with your Tenders Direct login details HERE

Title: United Kingdom-Liverpool: Fire-prevention services
Short description: The scope of the contract is for the provision of: compartmentation surveys, active works, passive works, follow on and remedial works.
Published By: Onward Group Ltd
Date Published: 28 May 2020
Framework/DPS: No
Value excluding VAT: £1,299,077.18
Number of tenders received, lot 1: 6
Number of tenders received, lot 2: 5
Number of tenders received, lot 3: 8
Number of tenders received, lot 4: 7
Number of tenders received, lot 5: 8
Number of tenders received, lot 6: 10
Number of tenders received, lot 7: 7
Number of tenders received, lot 8: 6
Number of tenders received, lot 9: 6
Number of tenders received, lot 10: 9
Contractors: Fieldway Supplies Ltd | Flame Hold Ltd | Openview Security Solutions Ltd | Frank Rogers Building Contractor Ltd | EFT Systems Ltd | Novus Property Solutions Ltd | TF Jones Property Services Ltd | Neo Property Solutions Ltd | Jackson Jackson and Sons Ltd

Access the full tender notice with your Tenders Direct login details HERE

Are your competitors listed above? Would you like to know their public sector success rate, market share and the types of opportunities they’re targeting? 
With our Competitor Tracking Alerts, you can view their past wins with our five year archive of award notices, and receive alerts when any organisation(s) you choose are announced as winners of above threshold public contracts. 
For more information, please contact us on 0800 222 9009 to discuss further.

How are our Reviewers getting on?

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To provide you with full coverage of public sector tenders from the UK, ROI and OJEU, we rely on our dedicated Review Team. Their role within Tenders Direct is to read, analyse and categorise every English-language contract published in the Official Journal of the European Union as well as every below-threshold notice from across the UK and Ireland. 

Their efforts help simplify searches, and ensure our customers never miss a tender. 

For this post I contacted Cameron, one of our Reviewers, to see how his team are getting on, and to find out what impact lockdown has had on the tenders they are reviewing.  

Q. What is your team working on at the moment? 
We are continuing to review the tenders that come in every day and ensuring our customers are alerted to these opportunities. In the background, we are working on various projects that will help maintain the efficiency and understanding of the review process. 

Q. What are you guys doing to overcome social distancing and isolation? 
Various video calls, to make sure we are seeing faces, hearing voices and checking in on each other. I’ve gone from only ever doing 1 or 2 video calls in my life to about 1 every day! 

Q. How did your team find adapting to homeworking? 
Very difficult to start with. The hardest thing to start with is getting your ergonomics correct so you are comfortably working. After that, the next challenge was adopting routines for the working day – such as taking short breaks away from the screen, switching off at the end of the day and new habits to help with concentration.  

I’m very appreciative of the technology we have in place, it really has allowed us to continue doing what we do with minimal disruption – I do however miss the every day human interaction!  

Q. Have you noticed a difference in the number of tenders being published? 
At the start of the social distancing measures, there were a few days where there were not many coming through, but as the weeks have passed, we are noticing more and more. Where it might be a quieter day from the OJEU, we can usually rely on a good number coming through from the below value threshold tenders.

We have certainly seen an increase in PPE (gloves, masks, clothing) since the lockdown. All research tenders have not been affected and anything desk based has been business as usual. In the last couple of weeks , we’ve seen a big jump in construction tenders which is very promising. 

I think the main thing that has stuck out is that tenders from Ireland have been continuous and when there was a decrease from others, there was certainly a continuation if not an increase in the number of tenders from Ireland.

Q. What has been the most useful tool or app for your team? 
Certainly Teams has been a blessing in group conversations. It’s allowed us to have group messages, video messaging as well as sharing screens – which has really helped collaboration and training. 

Q. Have you adopted any new working habits you think your team will keep? 
I think the use of video technology is going to be very interesting going forward. In terms of habits, I think I could be more active than I was on my lunch breaks, and it will be something I aim to keep up. 

Many of the contracts our Reviewers see have unusual or vague descriptions. We’re the only tender alert service that ensures a person reads each and every tender listed on the site. By categorising each tender they process, they help make our searches more accurate and ensure customers only get alerted to the most relevant opportunities.  

You can try our category search out for yourself and even request a free sample alert to see the real value our Review Team adds. If you would like to find out more about our services, please leave a comment below or get in touch on 0800 222 9009. 

Top Contract Award Notices this week 17/04/2020

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In the last week, over 540 contract award notices were published across the UK. Below you will find our top three notices from the last 7 days. 

Title: United Kingdom-Welwyn Garden City: Building construction work
Published By: Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council
Date Published: 15 April 2020
Framework/DPS: No
Value excluding VAT: £20,000,000.00
Number of tenders received: 16
Contractors: R G CarterCambridge Ltd

Access the full tender notice with your Tenders Direct login details HERE

Title: United Kingdom-Didcot: Research and development services and related consultancy services
Published By: Radioactive Waste Management
Date Published: 16 April 2020
Framework/DPS: Yes
Value excluding VAT: £9,500,000.00
Number of tenders received, Lot 1: 6
Number of tenders received, Lot 2: 5
Number of tenders received, Lot 3: 5
Contractors: Cavendish Nuclear Ltd. | DBD Ltd | Frazer-Nash Ltd | Galson Sciences Ltd | Jacobs Clean Energy Ltd | NSG Environmental Ltd | Nuvia Ltd

Access the full tender notice with your Tenders Direct login details HERE

Title: United Kingdom-Runcorn: Pharmaceutical products
Published By:
The NHS Commissioning Board (operating under the name of NHS England)
Date Published: 16 April 2020
Framework/DPS: Yes
Value excluding VAT: £56,543,000.00
Number of tenders received: 43
Contractors: Accord-UK Ltd | Acre Pharma Ltd | Bowmed Ibisqus Ltd | Brown and Burk UK Ltd | Consilient Health | Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd | Drugsrus Ltd | Flexipharm Austrading Ltd | Flynn Pharma Ltd | GH Pharma (UK) Ltd | Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Europe | Intrapharm Laboratories Ltd | Lucane Pharma S.A. | Mylan UK Healthcare Ltd | Orion Pharma (UK) Ltd | Piramal Critical Care Ltd | Ranbaxy (UK) Ltd | Reig Jofre Group | Synchrony Pharma | TEVA UK Ltd | Thornton and Ross Ltd | Tillomed Laboratories Ltd | Waverley Pharma Europe Ltd | Waymade plc | Zentiva Pharma UK Ltd

Access the full tender notice with your Tenders Direct login details HERE

Are your competitors listed above? Would you like to know their public sector success rate, market share and the types of opportunities they’re targeting? 
With our Competitor Tracking Alerts, you can view their past wins with our five year archive of award notices, and receive alerts when any organisation(s) you choose are announced as winners of above threshold public contracts. 
For more information, please contact us on 0800 222 9009 to discuss further. 

Don’t stop bidding because of COVID-19

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While catching up with our business development team, it was interesting to hear that a small number of people are choosing to postpone searching for contracts until after this pandemic. When I asked Euan Henderson, Assistant Sales Manager, what his thoughts were on this, his response was as follows:

“I talk to businesses looking for our support in finding them Public Sector contracts on a daily basis. In the last few days I’ve spoken to a handful who think they can cut costs and pick up business when things are ‘back to normal’. 

“This is a bad decision.  

“If you are waiting until after the pandemic to start bidding on tenders, think differently. The public sector will always need suppliers, so now is the time to ensure you are building a pipeline of bids and working to secure business for the future.   

“Thinking about searching for tenders yourself? Save your resources! Tenders are published on over 500 portals, meaning that without Tenders Direct, you would have to spend a LOT of time searching different sites and sifting through notices to find anything suitable. 

“Most of the businesses I’ve been speaking to are trying to be as proactive as possible, and if they are your competitors, then they are going to have plenty of business lined up over the next few months.”  

It really is important to be aware of what opportunities are out there, and that you are working towards securing business for the future. If you are proactively seeking opportunities, you may be interested in our Advanced Tender Alerts.

We have over 5 years’ worth of historical tender information to tap into, and with our advance alerts, we can let you know when contracts are due for renewal – giving you a head start of up to 6 months.

Watch our video to find out more, or get in touch to discuss further.

Sales Team: 0800 222 9009 | Customer Service: 0800 222 9010 

Public sector contracts are still being published

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While things may seem a little uncertain, we can assure you that there are still plenty of public sector contracts being published. We are keeping track of the number of  tenders we source, categorise and publish each day, and we have to say it’s looking good.

In March 2020 we saw: 

  • 2,938 new UK public sector tenders for March 2020 
  • 1003 new ROI public sector tenders for March 2020 
  • 20537 new EU public sector tenders for March 2020 

At the time of writing, on Tenders Direct we have: 

  • 2397 live UK tenders 
  • 885 live ROI tenders 
  • 20513 Live EU tenders 

These numbers mean there are an incredible number of opportunities for you to secure business now and in the future.

If you supply the public sector with goods or services that are in high demand right now, please keep an eye out for notices with accelerated timescales. Recent UK policy changes allow public sector buyers to speed up tendering procedures in order to secure resources as a ‘matter of urgency’.  

There may be increased competition for tenders with companies exploring new options of securing future business. If you have any doubts about the quality of your submissions, and would like some assistance, we do offer a range of virtual consultancy services.
Our experts can review your bids and highlight where you are going wrong or even take a more active role in the preparation of your submissions. 
If you would like any support, please get in touch on 0800 222 9009 or at support@tendersdirect.co.uk 

Framework Agreements: What You Need to Know

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Screenshot (34)

What are framework agreements?

Frameworks are “umbrella agreements” that sets out the terms – particularly relating to price, quality and quantity – under which individual contracts (call-offs) can be awarded throughout the period of the agreement (normally a maximum of 4 years). They are typically used when the buyer(s) identify a need for specific products or services but are unsure of the scope or time-frame.

Continue reading “Framework Agreements: What You Need to Know”

Public Procurement Thresholds 2017 – update

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update-1672363_1920

* 2018/19 Public Procurement Thresholds Update Available here *

When procuring goods or services over the financial threshold a public authority must do so under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015  in Scotland.

The current thresholds are as follows:

Public contracts

Supply, Services and Design Contracts Works Contracts Social and other specific services
Central Government £106,047

€135,000

 £4,104,394

€5,225,000

 £589,148             €750,000
Other contracting authorities £164,176

€209,000

 £4,104,394

€5,225,000

 £589,148            €750,000
Small lots £62,842

€84,000

 £785,530

€1,000,000

 n/a

 

Social and other specific services are subject to the new ‘light touch regime’ as described in a previous blog.

Utility contracts

Supply, Services and Design Contracts Works Contracts Social and other specific services
Utility authorities  

£328,352

€418,000

 £4,104,394

€5,225,000

 £785,530              €1,000,000

 

Defence and security contracts

Supply, Services and Design Contracts Works Contracts Social and other specific services
Defence and Security authorities £328,352

€418,000

 £4,104,394

€5,225,000

  n/a

 

Concession contracts

For the first time Concession Contracts are covered in EU Law under a separate directive and therefore separate regulations in the UK.

The EU Directive is found here: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/GA/TXT/?uri=celex:32014L0023

The UK regulations here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/273/contents/made

The UK Directive gives instruction on how the value of a concession contract should be calculated: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/273/regulation/9/made

The thresholds for publication in the OJEU refers to Article 8 (1) of the EU Directive which is:

  1. This Directive shall apply to concessions the value of which is equal to or greater than EUR 5 186 000.

The Sterling equivalent is £4,104,394.

Calculating estimated value

The calculation of the estimated value of a procurement exercise shall be based on the total amount payable, net of VAT, as estimated by the contracting authority, including any form of option and any renewals of the contracts as explicitly set out in the procurement documents.

Contracts subsidised by public funds

All applicable contracts which are subsidised by 50% or more of public funds must be advertised in the OJEU. From time to time a public body may part fund a project and request that the recipient of funding must advertise the procurement in line with public contracts regulations even if their contribution is less than 50% of the overall value. As such any recipient of public funding on a project should verify with the funding body what is expected of them in procuring for the project.

What are small lots?

See this blog.

How do I know if a contract is classed as works?

Many contractual requirements are a mixture of works and services. Whichever element is the highest in value should be taken as the contract nature when determining what threshold to apply. If you are unsure whether a specific element is classed as works or services then you can refer to Schedule 2 of the regulations which lists all activities which constitute works by CPV code:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/102/schedule/2/made

If the CPV code which fits your requirement is not in that list then it is not classed as a Works contract.

Questions? Leave a comment below.

 

 

Why are framework agreements important to SMEs?

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Link to Tenders Direct homepage

In our blog about election manifestos one thing that was clear is that all the main parties feel that involvement of SMEs in procurement is the key to economic growth. The current Government set a target of 25% of all Central Governments spend to be with SMEs when it came to power in 2010 and it met this target in the 2013-2014 financial year. Framework agreements represent around 45% of procurements in the UK and compared to other EU nations the UK uses this type the most. The purpose of this blog is to explain how important framework agreements can be for SMEs.

Continue reading “Why are framework agreements important to SMEs?”

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