Chapter 5: Pre-qualifying for Tender Opportunities


Overview

Pre-qualification helps clients secure an effective degree of competition by identifying the contractors whose skills and experience most closely match the requirements of the work. It is a way of narrowing down the field to arrive at a select group of contractors, chosen on the basis of their ability to satisfy a defined set of criteria. It means that ostensibly every contractor starts with the same degree of opportunity and no one reaches the stage of submitting a tender without getting through the preliminary rounds. In the EU framework outlined in Chapter 2 the process offers an objective and auditable basis on which to determine the professional, technical and financial status of potential bidders; it also makes competitive tendering a more manageable procedure for clients and a more focused one for contractors, since only those who can substantiate their place on a shortlist need commit resources to the development of a tender.

In both the public and the private sectors it is common for clients to maintain registers or lists of approved suppliers or preferred contractors. Entry to these registers is generally obtained through the completion of forms and questionnaires covering skills, experience, financial standing and related matters, as well as quality management and 'business excellence' issues. But the process of formal pre-qualification related to individual contract opportunities is normally applied only by public sector authorities and is associated with contracts that have values at or above the thresholds defined in public procurement legislation, as noted in Chapter 2.

Though procurement legislation has laid down the ground rules for pre-qualification, methods and approaches vary across the public sector: individual authorities, government departments, utility companies and EC-funded programmes may each define the form in which they apply the process. EC rules do not preclude contracting authorities from discussing forthcoming opportunities with potential bidders even before a contract notice appears and encouraging them to express interest, provided there is no element of discrimination in these contacts. As a general principle, the starting point is the tender notice, which will advise prospective contractors about pre-qualification procedures and the information required from them in this initial stage.

Contractors may be asked to complete a pre-qualification application form, which may accompany an Internet announcement of the contract, or to submit an expression of interest, which may consist in part of forms covering both administrative data and technical information. Clients prefer by and large to use standardized forms so as to obtain a consistent basis for the comparison and assessment of information. Where expressions of interest are requested, the structure and content of the document will normally be defined by the client, who may also set a limit on its length - eg '10 pages of A4 with a minimum font size of 11 pt'.

The criteria applied in pre-qualifying contractors generally relate to their personal or corporate repute, technical capacity and ability and financial status. Contractors who have been found guilty of professional misconduct can be excluded from tendering. Technical capacity is judged on the basis of resources, quality standards and past performance, including references from other clients. So far as financial status is concerned, clients may look for evidence that a contractor is considered likely to remain in business over and beyond the lifetime of the contract.




Bids, Tenders and Proposals. Winning Business Through Best Practice
Bids, Tenders and Proposals: Winning Business through Best Practice (Bids, Tenders & Proposals: Winning Business Through Best)
ISBN: 0749454202
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 145
Authors: Harold Lewis

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net