Information sought from bidder:
The contracting authority may ask, in its tender documentation, for the bidder to “indicate if it would intend to subcontract any of the contract. To indicate so, shall be without prejudice to the question of the principal bidder's liability under any subsequent contract”. This means that the principal bidder remains responsible for the completion of any awarded contract i.e. for the actions of its sub-contractors.
Conflicts of Interest:
Contracting authorities need to take appropriate measures to effectively prevent, identify and remedy conflicts of interest arising in the conduct of procurement procedures so as to avoid any distortion of competition and to ensure equal treatment of economic operators.
It is therefore recommended that a Conflicts of Interest Declaration Form be used in any procurement.
Joint procurement:
The Regulations specify that contracting authorities may procure jointly. Therefore if your institution wishes to collaborate with another education institution on an above threshold procurement, on the Find a Tender Service notice you need to specify that you are procuring on behalf of the other party then all parties will be jointly responsible for the procurement.
Termination of Contract Clauses:
All above threshold contracts are required to have the specific contract clauses detailed in Regulation 73 that allows the contract to be terminated in certain situations relating to breaches or consequences of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.
Model contract clauses can be found in A Guide to Standard Terms and Conditions.
Payment of undisputed invoices Clauses:
Contracting authorities (excluding maintained schools, academies and sixth form colleges) shall ensure that every public contract which they award contains suitable provisions to require that undisputed and valid invoices are paid within 30 days and to impose the same requirements on their Contractor in relation to payment to any subcontractors.
More information and model contract clauses can be found in the Cabinet Office Guide to Paying Invoices in 30 days.
Documentation of progress and decisions
Contracting authorities must document the progress of all procurement procedures, whether or not they are conducted by electronic means.
To that end, contracting authorities, should ensure that they keep sufficient documentation to justify decisions taken in all stages of the procurement procedure, such as documentation on:
- communications with suppliers and internal deliberations
- preparation of the procurement documents
- dialogue or negotiation if any
- selection and award of the contract
The documentation should be kept for a period of at least 3 years from the date of the award of the contract.