Route 1 | Procurement Journey

Prepare Documents

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To tell potential suppliers what your requirements are, you will need to distribute quotation documents. These quotation documents need to include information that will help suppliers decide whether they wish to bid or not.

Invitation to Quote Documents

Your Invitation to Quote documents must, as a minimum, include the following:

Checklist

Invitation to Quote Documents Checklist

Document	Description	Included?
Invitation to Quote Letter	A covering letter asking suppliers to bid. The Invitation to Quote Letter (ITQ) found below is an example document showing the type of information you can include.
Brief	The document that includes your requirements for the procurement exercise. The Brief is an example template showing the type of information you can include. It is important to incude your evaluation criteria - including weightings - in your Brief.
Your Organisations Terms and Conditions (T&C's) of Contract	These will be unique to your organisation and will differ depending on what is being ordered e.g. T&C's for services will differ from T&C's for goods. Many organisations hold T&C templates for your use. You should gain approval from your legal department and manager on what T&C's to use and whther clauses need to be added or removed.
Any Other Information	Any information that may affect the supplier's quote should also be included in the ITQ document.

Blank rows are provided for your use e.g. to add additional checklist items.

The content of the above templates can be changed to suit your individual requirements.

Organisations should ensure that all relevant procurement documents make reference to the Data Protection Regulations (DPR) and update their terms and conditions accordingly.

You should ask for legal advice to determine how DPR fits with your current quotation requirement and any other documentation used.

How Do I Publish my Invitation to Quote Documents?

You should use the Quick Quote facility on the Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) website wherever possible when seeking quotation bids, ensuring you include the above documents..

If your Organisation does not use Quick Quote, you can also seek quotes in writing or by e-mail.

Issuing Quotation Clarifications or Further Information

Suppliers may ask questions about the published Invitation to Quote documents. As a result, you may wish to issue further information or provide further clarification not contained within the original document.

In PCS Quick Quote, you can do this via an online bulletin board facility.

Alternatively you can provide clarifications or further information in writing or by e-mail.

If you have issued any clarifications, you should communicate all questions, answers and clarifications in writing to all bidders. This ensures that all bidders are treated fairly and in an open and transparent manner.

Care should be taken to remove all commercially sensitive information in this process e.g. names of potential suppliers, etc.

Invitation to Quote Timescales

The time limit for quotation responses should reflect the complexity of the requirement and be sufficient for the supplier to make a considered response.

You should keep to your original timescales as included in your Brief document. In exceptional circumstances, you may choose to consider extending the deadline for receipt of quotations.

An example may be that you have had to issue a clarification/further information to all suppliers. As a result of this clarification, the suppliers now need more time to work on their quotation document, to be able to respond adequately.

Please remember to communicate any deadline extensions to all potential suppliers. It is advised that you consult with your local Procurement Team/CoE for further guidance.

Checklist

Have you Got Everything You Need?

Before carrying on, please check you've got everything you need.

Evaluation criteria and weightings agreed and included in the your Brief document, prior to Invitation to Quote publication.
Sign off from technical expert and senior management on evaluation criteria and all Invitation to Quote documents.
Names and availability of those who will support the answer of supplier's technical or commercial questions
Names and availability of those who will evaluate technical or commercial responses.

Any documents you need are listed below

Invitation to Quote Letter

(file type: doc)

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Identify Suppliers

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If you have identified that your organisation has a new procurement requirement (that cannot be met by reusing or recycling existing goods or services, or by using an existing contract), you should seek quotations from a minimum of three suppliers. These suppliers should have the experience and expertise to meet your requirements.

Hints and Tips

To receive three quotes back from suppliers, you may wish to approach four or five suppliers in case not all respond.

How to Identify Potential Suppliers

Potential suppliers may be identified by searching the register of suppliers on Public Contracts Scotland (PCS). This website offers a 'Quick Quote' system to seek quotations from suppliers registered on the website.

If your Organisation does not use PCS, potential suppliers may be identified by other means e.g. using internet searches, trade publications or phone directories.

If you are unable to identify three suppliers, you should then commence a Route 2 Procurement Exercise. If you need further information or guidance on this you should contact your local procurement team or Centre of Expertise.

You should try to not restrict your selection to existing suppliers to your Organisation, but include new suppliers for each procurement exercise This will:

facilitate competition
encourage innovation
ensure best value in future service delivery
help suppliers, who have not previously bid for Scottish public sector work, to gain access to opportunities and gain experience working for the Scottish Public Sector.

A Non-Competitive Action

If only one supplier can undertake the work required, you should contact your local procurement team, senior management or your Centre of Expertise for advice. One possible option they may propose is to seek approval for a Non-Competitive Action (NCA) from your local procurement team or senior management. You should then follow the remainder of this process. For commercial reasons, you should not inform the supplier that they are the only supplier involved in the process.

Note: A Non-Competitive Action is an exceptional procedure and should:

be strictly limited to certain situations
be approved from your Organisation’s senior management to proceed with this process
be documented and retained for audit purposes.

Checklist

Do You Have What You Need?

Before carrying on, please check you've got everything you need.

Please ensure that you:

are registered on Public Contracts Scotland
have received senior management approval
documented all activities related to identifying suppliers for your procurement exercise.

Read more about Identify Suppliers

Prepare a Brief

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A brief is the written document that includes your requirements for your procurement exercise.

Quickfire Guide

Your Brief

As a minimum your Brief should include:

Key Requirements	What do you want? Detail the timescales Technical specifications Statement of work Budget.
Outputs	Examples may be: Temporary staff Site landscaping
How bids will be evaluated	Include your evaluation criteria and weightings. These should be communicated to all potential bidders.
Contract Management	How you are going to manage the contract when it goes live (does anything need to be added to the brief to reflect this?) How will quality or service levels be measured, recorded and maintained? What information should the bidder provide? Costs: how do you keep them from rising? How will issues be rectified? Where and how are deliveries made? How will processes be improved? Etc.

The Prepare a Brief document provides a template that you can populate to issue to tenderers alongside the Invitation to Quote (ITQ) letter. It includes guidance on how to do this that can be deleted when the ITQ is ready for issue.

To prepare a brief, you should gather information to help you make decisions on what your requirements are. This will include research on:

Suppliers	Do you have a current incumbent supplier? What is working in this contract/what is not? Are there suppliers available to quote for the work e.g. locally, regionally, nationally?
Knowledgeable People/Experts	Talk to people in the organisation who deal with the current contract – what do they want from a new contract? Talk with other buyers who have worked on a similar project. Talk with suppliers as part of early market engagement.
Market information	Have there been any changes in the market? Are there any new innovations/technology?

Any decisions on what your brief will include should consider the risk and value involved.

Data Protection Regulations (DPR)

Organisations should ensure that all relevant procurement documents make reference to the Data Protection Regulations (DPR) and update their terms and conditions accordingly.

If you are in any doubt you should seek legal advice/speak to your Procurement department or your Centre of Expertise (CoE) to help finalise your brief and ensure your ITQ as well as any other documentation that you issue is DPR compliant

More information on DPR.

Checklist