How The Bid Evaluation Process Works

We explain how contracting authorities conduct the bid evaluation process, scoring criteria across different tender submissions, and how the evaluation will impact your bidding strategy.

Explaining the bid evaluation process

Pass/fail requirements

Normally, the bid evaluation process will include a number of pass/fail requirements, usually outlined in a pre-qualification document, such as the selection questionnaire (SQ), PQQ or Common Assessment Standard (CAS). Typical pass/fail requirements include (but are not limited to):

• Evidence of technical and professional ability to deliver the contract, through providing contract examples or case studies which demonstrate similarity to the tender’s scope of works
• Accreditations or certifications, such as registration with an SSIP member scheme, ISO accreditation or industry-specific membership, such as CQC or NICEIC registration
• Minimum financial turnover, typically expressed as a percentage of the overall contract value.

The newly introduced Procurement Selection Questionnaire (PSQ) will simplify and streamline the pre-qualification part of the tender process.

Formal bid evaluation

As a starting point, all tenders will be evaluated on a split between the quality element, comprising method statements or bid responses, and the pricing submission, where bidders will enter in their prices or rates.

However, other submission documents may form the formal assessment criteria – for example, a mobilisation plan, key staff CVs and a social value matrix.

Scoring criteria for tender responses

As part of your bid plan, review the scoring criteria for tender responses. The criteria for achieving full marks changes from each bid, and it is important the response aligns with the criteria to ensure the best chance of success.

To illustrate, scoring criteria to achieve full marks from bids we have recently completed include:

• ‘… 5 – Excellent: Meets and complies with all the requirements of the question and further indicates innovation and creativity in operation. The response is supported by relevant examples which have been operated [and] provides additional information on relevant experience to support the response in question…’
• ‘… 10 – A Very Good Response: The response is relevant to the requirement and is comprehensive, unambiguous and fully demonstrates through evidence submitted your ability to satisfy the requirement and the related component parts of the procurement. The response provides a high level of confidence that the approach will meet the requirement and has a strong potential to exceed the requirement…’
• ‘… 5 – Very Good Response: Meets all of the tender requirements and gives significant relevant added benefits…’

As detailed, criteria for a response scoring 100% varies significantly. For instance, whilst the first example expects bidders to outline relevant previous examples and experience, the final excerpt requires bidders to give added value or benefits beyond the specified works or services.

How the bid evaluation process informs bidding strategy

As such, the structure and process of bid evaluation may change how bidders approach different tender opportunities. Your bid strategy should include a review of the evaluation process and weightings associated with each aspect of the submission.

Two-stage tendering

Also known as a ‘closed procedure’, two-stage tendering is a bid evaluation process where a select number of bidders will progress to invitation to tender (ITT) stage after submitting a selection questionnaire (SQ).

This bid evaluation process will change how bidder organisations approach the SQ. Typically, the SQ contains a suite of standard company information and data responses, in addition to short narrative questions such as contract examples.

However, the closed tender procedure will require more time and resource to scored project-specific questions, which are used to evaluate and reduce the number of bidders for the second stage.

Ranked framework award

A framework agreement involves appointing more than one contractor to deliver works and services, with these called off over the framework term. Under a ranked framework system, the first-ranked supplier will be awarded all works automatically, with second-ranked (and third-ranked, and so on) suppliers only awarded works that cannot be delivered.

Framework agreements can be an excellent method of minimising risk and starting to deliver work for the public sector. However, a ranked framework puts greater value and emphasis on securing first place – meaning your bid strategy may be closer to a normal contract than a framework.

High social value weighting

With social value constituting up to 25% of the bid evaluation criteria in some instances, a higher weighting on social value will impact the resource and importance placed on social value commitments and initiatives.

Bidders may choose to enhance the value of their social value proposals by increasing:

• Jobs, apprenticeships and work experience hours available as part of the contract, ensuring these are tenable and proportionate to the contract value
• Volunteer hours to local community projects, charities or other VCSEs, such as a food bank or litter-picking initiative to ensure the wider community benefits from their appointment
• Environmental commitments, including reducing carbon emissions and waste going to landfill as part of service delivery.

Interview or presentation

Occasionally, contracting authorities will include an interview/presentation stage as additional moderation. Timelines between notification and the date of the interview itself can be short – often, a week or less. Naturally, an interview will extend the bid process, and additional resource will need to be assigned to attend and answer questions from the evaluation panel.

Typical evaluation ratings for a bid interview or presentation are between 10 – 20%. The contracting authority normally request representatives from different divisions of the bidder’s business – for instance, the managing director, proposed contract manager and a member of the customer care team.

Our bid and tender services

With more than 7,000 PQQ, SQ and ITT submissions completed and a current success rate of 85%, Executive Compass are familiar with the bid evaluation process in its many forms.

If you would like to discuss our bid and tender services and how we can support you to win more contracts, contact our sales and marketing team for a chat today at info@executivecompass.co.uk or via telephone 0800 612 5563.