Procurement Guidance for Suppliers

Do

• Review your policies on a regular basis to ensure that they comply
  with current legislation
• Attend any site meetings, even if you already know the Council
• Consider what the Council wants - a generic answer does not necessarily
  meet the Council’s needs
• Answer the question - it is not enough to refer to a ‘policy’ or previous response
• Provide information in the required format
• Check the mandatory questions - not providing a reply or detailing “N/A”
  could disqualify your tender response
• Provide clear contact details, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses
• Reference your documents correctly, give documents names that make it clear what they are and where supporting documentation is to be found
• Check the word count and keep within the maximum number of words or
  characters that are allowed
• Check you have included all relevant enclosures and they are in date,
  they may not be accepted later
• Check you have signed each page as required - if it says Managing Director,
  then that is what is required
• Draft your responses offline - proof read, spell check and then copy and paste into the online response form
• Be careful to load attachments into the correct sections
• Leave plenty of time for uploading by setting a cut-off point that is at least
  a day ahead of the deadline - we are legally bound to disqualify late quote/tender responses.

Don't

• Copy and paste from a previous document or from the previous
  quote/tender response
• Send brochures and marketing information that have not been requested
• Seek to influence the process by requesting meetings or contacting the
  Council to discuss your quote/tender
• Seek changes to the documentation after the submission date and time has passed
• Be complacent.