Procurement - civil engineering dynamic purchasing system – projects up to £5M: buyer's guide

Call for competition

Inviting DPS suppliers for the relevant lot, region and value band to bid Before inviting the relevant DPS suppliers to bid, prepare all the tender documents required.

Once prepared, invite suppliers for the relevant Lot, Region and Value Band to bid, making clear this is a call for competition from the DPS. You can do this by sending an email, or through PCS/PCS-T.

You should allow sufficient time for suppliers to respond. Suppliers must be given a minimum of 10 days to respond to any tenders issued via the DPS. Take into account factors such as the technical requirements for the works and the time needed to submit responses. Also consider site visits, you may need to allow the suppliers to inspect Ground Conditions. You should also indicate when and how they can ask for clarification questions. The responses to these clarifications must be shared with all suppliers invited to bid.

Evaluation

After the deadline for submissions has passed, you can evaluate the tender responses. You must score supplier responses against the assessment criteria you have defined and included in your ITT. Ensure records of the results and final award decision are kept, these are useful when providing feedback to the participating suppliers. Once you have completed your evaluation, and the most economically advantageous tender on the basis of the award criteria set out has been identified, you need to communicate the outcome of your decision.

Communicate outcomes

Once the call for competition evaluation is complete, you must notify suppliers. Notifications to DPS suppliers should include constructive, written feedback to all participants and include a full breakdown of their scoring.

Please refer to the Construction Procurement handbook (Feedback to Bidders guidance). There is no formal requirement for a standstill period under a DPS, however you may allow a voluntary standstill period of 10 calendar days to give unsuccessful suppliers an opportunity to consider the feedback on their bid, request information, or call for a review of the award decision.

Buying organisations should consider the implications if they decide not to observe the voluntary standstill period (in particular if the Work Order is of a high value). Once the voluntary standstill period has passed, you can begin your Work Order contract with the winning supplier. Please refer to the Construction Procurement handbook Standstill guidance.

Publishing your decision

Buyers are reminded of the obligations contained in the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 in relation to the award of works contracts valued equal to or greater than £2,000,000. In particular, buyers should note that in accordance with Section 23 (2) the award of contracts must be publicised on the Public Contracts Scotland website and in accordance with Section 35 contracts must be registered in the buying organisation’s “contracts register”. Your attention is also drawn to the requirement to provide feedback in accordance with Section 32 and Section 33.

Good procurement practice suggests that an award notice for all call for competition awards should always be published regardless of value.

Award notices must be sent for publication within 30 days following an award. Further information can be found here.

Inform the DPS management team

Contact CCT (CCT_SPPD@gov.scot) to notify us of award. Information on the evaluation, number of tenders and tender values would aid in DPS management and feed into strategic decision making. 

Management information and performance data

Regular Management Information (MI) and performance data should also be incorporated to aid contract management. Buying organisations using this DPS must request their own MI and hold regular meetings with the DPS suppliers as necessary.