Procurement Written by CPL Group
Tendering during a pandemic Procurement and tendering can be complicated and time consuming at the best of times, but in times of a crisis, it may seem like running an effective tender process is almost impossible. Thankfully, this doesn’t have to be the case CPL Group have created a step-by-step guide which provides you with hints and tips that facilitate compliance whilst making sure you can complete an effective tendering process. Current contract / provision Should you need to extend your current contract: discuss with your supplier about extending the contract beyond its current term. We recommend not to agree a new contract end date yet but to establish that this would be a viable option if the tender process needs to be delayed. Your current supplier will value the advanced warning as it will allow them to make any arrangements that are necessary. Prepare your in-house team if your service is currently delivered in-house: Make sure your onsite team including HR, are prepared for the scenario that the in-house service will need to be continued to be delivered for a period. Check that everything is in place to ensure the service can continue seamlessly until the new contract is in place. Supplier site visits Site visits are extremely useful when you are tendering for services as it allows the potential supplier to view the applicable areas of your building. A visit isn’t going to be possible if
your organisation has adopted a work from questions. We recommend minuting the home policy or is restricting access to your call and distributing the notes circulated buildings. When a visit is unable to take place, via your e-tendering portal to ensure we recommend considering the following transparency and to provide an audit trail. options to assist suppliers submitting bids: Supplier site visits and an effective Photographs – insert photos of the tender pack should always contain the relevant areas into the tender document following pieces of information whether to provide suppliers with visual tendering for goods or services: imagery of the areas covered Specification – based by the service contract. on the site’s requirements C onsid Videos – produce a video under the new contract. offeringer of the area to provide Site plans (if applicable) telepho a a virtual tour of the – provide all detailed ne or video c site or the main areas site plans that you which will be covered possess so suppliers instead onference cal l by the service contract. can fully understand of a site allowin v Conference call the site layout. i s i t , g suppl question and answer Square meterage details i e r t s o hea session – consider (if applicable) – provide require r your offering a telephone as much accurate detail ments or video conference on the square meterage call instead of a site of your site as possible. This visit, allowing suppliers to is extremely important when hear your requirements and ask tendering for cleaning contracts. clarification questions on the content of the TUPE (if applicable) – accurate TUPE details tender document. We strongly recommend are integral to allowing the interested suppliers inviting all suppliers onto the same call to to understand your current staffing structures, ensure they all hear the same information numbers, terms and conditions etc. Should and are given the same opportunity to ask you be unable to delay your tender process, E Issue 25.3 | EDUCATION BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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