Isle of Anglesey County Council

Isle of Anglesey Council is fair, non-discriminatory, professional and transparent. As a Local Authority, we have a strong record and are committed to paying our suppliers in a timely manner.

This guide should provide sufficient information so that companies can decide whether or not to tender for the work. However it should be noted that there is much competition for the Council’s contracts and this guide cannot assure individual companies of success.

This guide forms part of the Council’s new and enthusiastic approach to procurement in order to maximize the opportunities for small to medium enterprises as well as large companies.

Isle of Anglesey County Council’s structure is as follows:

• Chief Executive
• Directors
• Heads of Services

Head of Services are responsible for overseeing a group of services, corporate strategies and mainstreaming priorities.

Reporting to the Deputy Chief Executive and the Directors are the Heads of Services responsible for the day to day running of services.

The Council provides a wide range of public services to nearly 70,000 residents on the Island. Procurement is a devolved function within the Authority, the services are responsible to carry out their own procurement but there is a Corporate Procurement Unit within the Resources department in order to advise departments on the best route to market and ensure value for money.

The Council deals with a variety of contracts ranging from one-off purchases to contracts for supplies, services or works that will last for a specific period before coming up for renewal. Effective procurement supports the Council’s aims of providing high quality, value for money, sustainable services which meet the needs of residents both now and in the future.

The National Procurement website for Wales www.sell2wales.gov.uk shows public sector contracts of all values to be awarded. Goods, services and works contracts over the European Union thresholds have to be purchased in line with the EU Procurement Directives and are advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU).

These can be viewed on the Sell2Wales website. This website also allows suppliers and contractors to register their company details free of charge so that they can receive e-mail updates about tender opportunities as they arise.

Part of the Isle of Anglesey County Council’s constitution is the Contract Procedure Rules (CPR’s), all purchases must comply with CPR’s. All tendering opportunities over £30K must be advertised via sell2wales but as best practice we encourage purchases of lower value also to be advertised on sell2wales. Tender that exceed the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) must be advertised via sell2wales but it will automatically be published in the Official Journal.

The Isle of Anglesey Council can use ‘All-Wales’ contracts that have been set up by the National Procurement Services (NPS). This means that the Council does not have to advertise a detailed tender itself as it will collaborate with other public sector bodies to reduce procurement costs, these types of purchases relate to ‘common and repetitive spend’ eg stationery, paper, furniture.

However, the fact that these contracts are All-Wales should not preclude any supplier from expressing interest as these may be awarded on a regional basis. The Council encourages collaborative working amongst suppliers on larger contracts. These opportunities can also be found on www.sell2wales.gov.uk

The way in which the Council approaches a purchase depends upon the estimated value and legal requirements for awarding such contracts. The Council must follow its Contract Procedure Rules and Financial Procedure Rules as contained in the Constitution. View the Constitution.

Any appropriate Compliant Public Sector Contracts/Framework Agreements* in place will be used regardless of value.

Each contract will need to specify the award criteria for evaluating price and quality at the outset of the procurement process. Each tender must comply with the Public Contract Regulations 2015.

*Note that framework contracts can be awarded to a number of suppliers.

Tendering opportunities will be advertised via sell2wales, when business register on sell2wales they will tick relevant commodities that their company can tender for therefore if a tender is advertised under a certain commodity then an automatic email will be issued.

There are various routes to market that you can advertise tenders, the most common routes are the ‘open’ and ‘restricted’. Companies will either be invited to tender directly following the ‘open’ procedure or complete a pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) prior to issuing an invitation to tender following the ‘restricted’ procedure.

The purpose of a pre-qualification questionnaire is to assess the potential bidder’s suitability to supply the Council and ability to satisfy the contract before tenders are issued. This saves a bidder’s time and effort from being spent unnecessarily on completing full tender documents.

Tender documentation will consist of the following documents:

• Invitation to Tender (ITT)
• Qualification Questionnaire
• Technical Questionnaire
• Commercial Questionnaire
• Form of tender
• Specification
• Anti-collusion certificate
• Draft Contract
• Schedule of rates and/or bills of quantities (if applicable)
• Drawings (if applicable)
• Contract conditions or conditions of purchase
• Method statement requirements (if applicable)
• Any relevant supporting information

You will be asked to submit your tender documents by a given time and date via sell2wales. The tender documents will be opened vial the sell2wales ‘postbox’ by 2 different officers on a specific date. Once opened, the tender documents are forwarded to the appropriate Council Officer for evaluation. Any late tenders will be excluded from the evaluation process.

Tender evaluation and contract award

Submitted tender documentation. The evaluation will focus on examining how the tender proposals will deliver the contract on the basis of price and quality. The balance between price and quality will depend on the particular service area. The Council will award the contract on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender. The successful supplier will be notified in writing.

Debriefing

If you are not awarded the contract you will be notified in writing. Within the limits of commercial confidentiality, the Council will always endeavour to offer unsuccessful suppliers feedback to discover why their bid failed. This information can be used to help any future bids. Being unsuccessful in one contract does not mean that a company will be unsuccessful in future. It should be noted that the Council must comply with the Freedom of Information Act.

Contract performance

Procedures exist to monitor the performance of companies carrying out contracts on behalf of the Council. Companies are closely monitored to assess their compliance with pre-defined Key performance indicators (KPI’s).

Your company must be capable of delivering the requirements of the contract and meet the KPI’s. You should be aware that Contract Conditions will be strictly applied especially with regard to quality and general performance.

The Council is continuously striving to improve its own performance and expects its contractors to do the same. The Council will seriously assess the position of any contractor who fails to perform to the levels required, conditions of the contract will be applied and there are specific conditions in the contract relating to poor performance.

Suppliers will be asked to comment on any performance issues reported. You should be aware that serious instances of poor performance could disqualify your company from being considered for future business. The Council is not responsible for the consequences that this may have on a company’s business.

Examples of adverse performance would include but not limited to:

• unacceptable quality of work
• lack of site supervision
• failure to deliver on time
• inadequate control of sub-contractors
• poor health and safety

Variations

Variations may be needed from time to time during a contract period. The Isle of Anglesey County Council will normally request variations in writing, except in an emergency, where instructions can be made verbally and followed up in writing.

The amount of information required by the Council will vary in proportion to the contracts’ value. Low value contracts require limited information, whilst contracts awarded by tender (more than £30,000) may require more extensive information, including:

Financial information

Companies may be asked for certain financial information relating to each of the last three years (it may be two years in some contracts). Private limited companies and public limited companies must submit fully audited accounts as registered with Companies House.

Other applicants should forward copies of financial statements, business plans or a certified statement of turnover to the Council.

This information is used to assess the financial position of the company in relation to the size of the contract. Information is also required to check that a company is registered (if appropriate) for tax and complies with the Council’s insurance requirements.

If a company has less than 3 years financial information, they may still be considered depending on the nature of the contract.

Experience and technical ability

Further information requested seeks to assess whether a company has the relevant experience and technical ability to carry out the categories of work and to provide the type and quality of service required. If an application relates to a specific contract, it may be necessary to provide references.

Some further questions may be asked, tailored to the needs of the individual contract. The responses and supporting evidence will be used to assess whether a company has the required level of skills and abilities to tender. This could include accreditations such as FENSA, CORGI, ISO, IIP (or equivalent) etc.

Health and safety

Depending upon the nature of the goods/services/works, organisations may be required to submit a copy of their Health and Safety Policy.

Quality assurance

For certain contracts including works contracts, organisations may be required to demonstrate that they have a suitable quality assurance system. This may be demonstrated by certification by an approved assessment company or by the Council reviewing the company and accepting the organisations quality manual.

Equal opportunities and race relations

Isle of Anglesey County Council is committed to equal opportunity, equal access and positive outcomes. The Council aims to ensure that organisations that provide services on behalf of the Council comply with equal opportunities legislation and promote equality of opportunity.

The Council also aims to encourage those organisations and individuals with which it does business to observe and adhere to the principles contained within the Council’s Equal Opportunities Policy. 

Sustainability and environmental care

Isle of Anglesey County Council is committed to protecting the environment and ensuring a better quality of life for everyone now and for future generations. Within the procurement strategy there is a reference to sustainability and how we as a Council should ensure that sustainable development is built into the tendering documentation.

Purchasing cards

Isle of Anglesey County Council uses the Welsh Purchasing Card’s (WPC) introduction as a payment method for certain purchases. Tenders may specify that suppliers be able to accept the WPC.

The Council’s Economic and Community Service provides a range of Business Support Services to attract new business and to help existing businesses to expand.

The Business Support team works closely with other business support agencies to deliver a number of initiatives including financial assistance to gain required accreditations, expert support on procurement processes, e-commerce, guidance in terms of equality and diversity and environmental policies and more.

The contact details for the Business Support Team and Business Wales are as follows:-

Business Wales contact details

Guto Carrod - Tendering Adviser

Email: Guto.Carrod@businesswales.org.uk

Menter a Busnes
Building 9
Park Road
Parc Menai
Bangor
LL57 4BN

From January 2005, this act gives every individual the right to request information from a public sector Organisation.

However there are exemptions, for example a request for personal information about an employee.

Further information is available on our web site.

Isle of Anglesey County Council must consider its procurement activity in light of all relevant legislation: race, disability, sex, language, sexual orientation, religion, belief and human rights. It is our duty to eliminate any unfair discrimination according to legislation which includes:

• Race Relations Act 1976 and Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000
• Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and 2004
• Equal pay Act 1970 and Sex Discrimination Act 1975
• Welsh Language Measure 2014
• Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003
• Employment Equality (Religion and Belief) Regulations 2003
• Human Rights Act 1996
• Social Care and Wellbeing Act 2015

Isle of Anglesey County Council
Council Offices
Llangefni
Anglesey
LL77 7TW

Email: procurement@anglesey.gov.wales

Telephone: 01248 750057