Paying to submit a tender!
Discussion
I kid you not:
Consultancy Services
Entry Date: 20/03/2009
Nature of contract: Service contract
1. Title: CONSULTANCY SERVICES
2. Awarding Authority: The University of Sheffield. Web: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/sheffield/asp/tendermana...
3. Contract type: Service contract
4. Description: The awarding authority is out to tender on behalf of the Office of Corporate Partnerships for an evaluation on the CECA Project.The technical specification can be found in the tender documentation which will be sent to you once you have expressed your interest.
Consultancy Services
Entry Date: 20/03/2009
Nature of contract: Service contract
1. Title: CONSULTANCY SERVICES
2. Awarding Authority: The University of Sheffield. Web: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/sheffield/asp/tendermana...
3. Contract type: Service contract
4. Description: The awarding authority is out to tender on behalf of the Office of Corporate Partnerships for an evaluation on the CECA Project.The technical specification can be found in the tender documentation which will be sent to you once you have expressed your interest.
- Please note* that there is a £25 administration charge applicable to all suppliers who make a return against this tender.
I have to say as cheeky as it is ,, Iv spent thousands on training managers, Health and safety, iso9001 iso14001 , Chas, Investors in people etc so it is quite important that only serious people get through to post tender interview ,, it stops us putting a fully considered scheme together up against a man in his bedroom and no overheads
Here's one from the US:
Proposals are to be submitted at the Office of the Purchasing Manager of the City of Fresno,
2101 "G" Street, Building "A," Fresno, CA 93706 prior to the opening at 3 p.m. on Thursday,
March 12, 2009, at which time they will be publicly opened and recorded.
All proposals must be made on the proposal forms provided by the Purchasing Manager and must
be accompanied by the amount of _Five Hundred Dollars ($500) in the form of a Cashier’s
or Certified Check_
Proposals are to be submitted at the Office of the Purchasing Manager of the City of Fresno,
2101 "G" Street, Building "A," Fresno, CA 93706 prior to the opening at 3 p.m. on Thursday,
March 12, 2009, at which time they will be publicly opened and recorded.
All proposals must be made on the proposal forms provided by the Purchasing Manager and must
be accompanied by the amount of _Five Hundred Dollars ($500) in the form of a Cashier’s
or Certified Check_
£25 is not too large a lump to stop the man in his bedroom chucking in a stupid price, i'm not against it if it's refundable, but it's not so I am, seems to be most companies are clawing back these costs, chas, altius, safe contractor.....where does it end, all b
ks IMO and do nothing for H&S, all they do is absolve the client of their responsibilities and reduce their costs
ks IMO and do nothing for H&S, all they do is absolve the client of their responsibilities and reduce their costsThere is already a process for weeding out the dross, its called "expressions of interest". That said £25 is hardly a huge expense. I have driven 300 miles each way to deliver a tender before which in its self would have cost well over £300, thats not including the £5k it probably cost to put it together. Mind you it was for a £500k job so was worth it.
christmc said:
I have to say as cheeky as it is ,, Iv spent thousands on training managers, Health and safety, iso9001 iso14001 , Chas, Investors in people etc so it is quite important that only serious people get through to post tender interview ,, it stops us putting a fully considered scheme together up against a man in his bedroom and no overheads
But if the "man in his bedroom" can undercut you and meet all the requirements of the tender, then either (a) you're spending too much for your business sector, or (b) you're electing to pitch for work for which your firm is over-qualified. That, surely, is competition?christmc said:
I have to say as cheeky as it is ,, Iv spent thousands on training managers, Health and safety, iso9001 iso14001 , Chas, Investors in people etc so it is quite important that only serious people get through to post tender interview ,, it stops us putting a fully considered scheme together up against a man in his bedroom and no overheads
That suggests the man in his bedroom isn't well qualified and equipped to do the job. From what I have seen of some of the 'quality' badges they are little more than hoop jumping to show what you can do, not always what you do do. I can understand some of the H&S and quality badges in manufacturing or construction for example but what does IIP prove in terms of the quality of a tender? Most IIP companies I have seen have done what they need to to get the glass ashtray for the foyer but what actually goes on is far from IIP.Also, if the man in his back bedroom puts in an ill considered tender at pre interview or PQQ stage he won't be there at interview anyway, just like the larger companies won't. Small businesses already struggle to compete against larger companies and universities when the HMG dept asks for umpteen policies (which I fear they don't even read) on H&S, data protection, diversity and EO, quality management, union recognition and bullying and harassment.
£25 may not be much to even a medium sized company but £25 mutiplied by the number of tenders I might out in any month is the heating and electric in our offices. Anmd of course indirectly the clinet pays for the glass ashtrays.
Ash 996 GT2 said:
"You will be invoiced after the closing date."
Go for it. Cheques in the post
I wonder what the contractual basis of the charge is, and the enforceablity?Go for it. Cheques in the post
As to whether it is illegal, Article 4 of the most recent EU competition directive states:
"Contracting authorities shall treat economic operators equally and non-discriminatorily and shall act in a transparent way."
So at a basic level, the levying of a charge is surely discriminatory? As B&B pointed out, one tender is not a problem, but a lot of tenders per month soon adds up.
Have a read here: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?...
I am a management consultant in Egypt.
Here there is a government agency that sponsors up to 90% of the cost of a project. The tenders are by invitation to tender.
On submission of the tender you must pay a tender guarantee fee of 1-2% of the estimated cost of the tender, which is returnable if the tender is lost.
If the tender is one there is a 5% of the financial offer paid as a project guarantee, again returnable on successful completion of the project.
The sums of money for the projects are from half to one million USD, so these are quite large sums of money.
Here there is a government agency that sponsors up to 90% of the cost of a project. The tenders are by invitation to tender.
On submission of the tender you must pay a tender guarantee fee of 1-2% of the estimated cost of the tender, which is returnable if the tender is lost.
If the tender is one there is a 5% of the financial offer paid as a project guarantee, again returnable on successful completion of the project.
The sums of money for the projects are from half to one million USD, so these are quite large sums of money.
My issue with the man in the bedroom is that with the tender process in consruction the bean counters and awarding authority find it very hard to ignore a scheme which may be lots cheaper , Now i know what you all may say " well if they can do it for less money then great" but the truth is, they can never provide the service back up or after sales service because they dont have the infastructure as a company, they also can not offer the insurance bond that most clients ask for ,
The result of this is that when we get through the various tender stages we end up with the cost consultants digging up these cheap quotes asking why we are selling footballs for £10 and the other firm are selling them for £2,,,
Well the truth is that the blokes selling £2 footballs dont have a fleet of vans and service engineers on call out to blow the footballs back up for the client 24/7.
Its a crap analogy but those are my reasons for thinking that a fee to tender may not be a terrible idea providing it doent become a silly amount.
The result of this is that when we get through the various tender stages we end up with the cost consultants digging up these cheap quotes asking why we are selling footballs for £10 and the other firm are selling them for £2,,,
Well the truth is that the blokes selling £2 footballs dont have a fleet of vans and service engineers on call out to blow the footballs back up for the client 24/7.
Its a crap analogy but those are my reasons for thinking that a fee to tender may not be a terrible idea providing it doent become a silly amount.
christmc said:
My issue with the man in the bedroom is that with the tender process in consruction the bean counters and awarding authority find it very hard to ignore a scheme which may be lots cheaper , Now i know what you all may say " well if they can do it for less money then great" but the truth is, they can never provide the service back up or after sales service because they dont have the infastructure as a company, they also can not offer the insurance bond that most clients ask for ,
The result of this is that when we get through the various tender stages we end up with the cost consultants digging up these cheap quotes asking why we are selling footballs for £10 and the other firm are selling them for £2,,,
Well the truth is that the blokes selling £2 footballs dont have a fleet of vans and service engineers on call out to blow the footballs back up for the client 24/7.
Its a crap analogy but those are my reasons for thinking that a fee to tender may not be a terrible idea providing it doent become a silly amount.
I have considerable sympathy with your POV. However isn't much of the fault attached to those writing the tender documents? If a fleet of vans and other "after sales service" is important, it should be a contractual requirement, and the "man in a bedroom" will fail at the first hurdle.The result of this is that when we get through the various tender stages we end up with the cost consultants digging up these cheap quotes asking why we are selling footballs for £10 and the other firm are selling them for £2,,,
Well the truth is that the blokes selling £2 footballs dont have a fleet of vans and service engineers on call out to blow the footballs back up for the client 24/7.
Its a crap analogy but those are my reasons for thinking that a fee to tender may not be a terrible idea providing it doent become a silly amount.
As regards your football analogy, surely more transparency in your pricing would improve things? You can price your footballs at £2, too, but include a service charge as an extra.
skwdenyer said:
christmc said:
My issue with the man in the bedroom is that with the tender process in consruction the bean counters and awarding authority find it very hard to ignore a scheme which may be lots cheaper , Now i know what you all may say " well if they can do it for less money then great" but the truth is, they can never provide the service back up or after sales service because they dont have the infastructure as a company, they also can not offer the insurance bond that most clients ask for ,
The result of this is that when we get through the various tender stages we end up with the cost consultants digging up these cheap quotes asking why we are selling footballs for £10 and the other firm are selling them for £2,,,
Well the truth is that the blokes selling £2 footballs dont have a fleet of vans and service engineers on call out to blow the footballs back up for the client 24/7.
Its a crap analogy but those are my reasons for thinking that a fee to tender may not be a terrible idea providing it doent become a silly amount.
I have considerable sympathy with your POV. However isn't much of the fault attached to those writing the tender documents? If a fleet of vans and other "after sales service" is important, it should be a contractual requirement, and the "man in a bedroom" will fail at the first hurdle.The result of this is that when we get through the various tender stages we end up with the cost consultants digging up these cheap quotes asking why we are selling footballs for £10 and the other firm are selling them for £2,,,
Well the truth is that the blokes selling £2 footballs dont have a fleet of vans and service engineers on call out to blow the footballs back up for the client 24/7.
Its a crap analogy but those are my reasons for thinking that a fee to tender may not be a terrible idea providing it doent become a silly amount.
As regards your football analogy, surely more transparency in your pricing would improve things? You can price your footballs at £2, too, but include a service charge as an extra.
i think the fault is with the bean counters who "must secretly" know that when someone is 50% cheaper there has to be something missing from their scheme,
But im afraid it doesnt stop them arguing for the stupidly low price,
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