Stretching tight budgets

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Stretching tight budgets

• - A smarter contractor selection process

Richard Byford Stablebridge Consulting
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Introduction

• Project Challenge 2002 with Kevin Potts Why
  projects fail
• Choice of supplier/solution is a critical success
  factor
• Contracts over threshold must comply with EU
  directives
• Includes
• Public services
• Buildings and infrastructure
• Equipment and engineering
• IT and information systems
• Detailed look at procurement issues for enabling
  projects

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Starting the process

• Goal Select the supplier/solution combination
  that is most likely to meet all the authoritys
  needs.
• Process objectives
• Be able to produce a detailed argument to support
  your choice of a supplier/solution you regard as
  most likely to deliver the business benefits
  required of the procurement.
• Nobody in your organisation will object to the
  choice of the supplier/solution.
• Proof that your choice was made in a fair,
  honest, open and legal way.
• Unsuccessful bidders will not complain or be
  unduly aggrieved.
• You get your contract placed in good time and
  without wasting your own or your colleagues
  time.

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The Advert

• Official Journal of the European Union notice
• Includes publishing objective criteria,
  evaluation system and weightings
• Criteria must be declared at the start
• Outcome of the process is determined at the
  outset early buy-in essential
• Champion must take full control at an early stage

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But we havent finished doing the Requirements
Specification

• Do less work!
• Specify the problem not the solution
• Dont mention the budget!
• Clever people jump to solutions
• Curse of knowledge
• Stifles Innovation
• Like herding kittens

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Reducing the field

• Pre-qualification reduces the field of contenders
• Usually a questionnaire (PQQ)
• Bidders will be making an investment decision
• Dont throw the baby out with the bathwater
• Programme risk of too many applicants
• Restricted procedure
• Open procedure
• Competitive Dialogue

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The questions

• Too late you should have done these earlier!
• Ask questions that will enable you to make a
  decision
• Only ask for information that will help you make
  the decision (or go into the contract)
• Dont evaluate for low-risk items that you will
  contract for anyway
• If it is high risk, dont take their word for it!
• Dont give them the answers
• Give the bidders a hard time they like it!

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Bids are prepared

• Full information disclosure to bidders
• Context, scope scale
• For each question
• Reason why question (enquiry) is being made
• Why the question is important to the authority
  (traceability to programme aims)
• How evaluators will score the answers
• How scores will be assigned
• The contribution (weight) that the question will
  make to the overall decision

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Evaluation

• No more smokey rooms
• Audit trail
• Plan well in advance
• Availability
• Process and protocols
• Standstill period and debriefing
• Thats where the audit trail comes in
• Rewards bidders by helping them raise their game
• Plan in advance can be time consuming
• Risk of challenge
• Contract award

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Questions
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End

• Richard Byford
• rbyford_at_me.com
• 07540 376 676

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Choice of Procurement Procedure

• Open Procedure (Reg. 15)
• Confirm that you are compliant, tell us your
  price.
• Lowest Compliant Bid
• Restricted Procedure (Reg. 16)
• Prove to us that your solution will meet our
  detailed requirements, and tell us your price.
• Select on Value for Money
• Standard Contract
• Competitive Dialogue (Reg. 18)
• Tell us how well your solution meets our needs
  and
• propose a pricing/contracting system
• propose a legal and financial structure for the
  deal
• Select on Most Economical Tender
• Contract is an output of the dialogue

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End

• Richard Byford
• rbyford_at_me.com
• 07540 376 676