Evaluation
The evaluation of the Quality and Social Value element and the Pricing element must be conducted in accordance with what you have specified in your Invitation to Further Competition document.
Assessment Summaries
In general, these should include:
- Feedback to the successful bidder and only their own scores.
- Unsuccessful bidders should be provided feedback on their own scores.
Publish a Contract Award Notice
Under the Procurement Act 2023, you must publish a Contract Award Notice before entering into a contract.
Holding a Standstill Period
After you have completed your evaluation, it is a good idea to hold a standstill period. Although this is not mandatory, it is considered best practice.
The standstill period starts the day you send out your Contract Award Notice and must be for a minimum of eight working days.
Helpful Templates
The Intention to Award and Contract Award Letters document provide templates for you to use when advising both successful and unsuccessful Providers of the outcome.
Contract Award
Once the standstill period is complete, you will need to formally award your contract.
You will need to send out the Contract Award Letter to the winning Provider, along with the final version of your Order Form and Call-off Terms and Conditions. Together, these documents form the contract between your organisation and the successful Provider.
The winning Provider should:
- Acknowledge receipt of the Contract Award.
- Sign the Order Form and return this to you - you will also need to sign the Order Form in line with your organisation's internal requirements.
Publishing your Contract Details Notice
Within 30 days of a public contract award notice, you must publish a notification that your contract has commenced via a Contract Details Notice.
If your call-off contract is estimated to be worth over £5 million, you must publish a redacted copy of the contract within 90 days of the contract's commencement.
Please ensure you speak to your procurement and legal teams to make sure you are compliant with the requirements of the Procurement Act 2023.
Further Guidance
For full details on notice requirements when awarding a call-off contract under the Procurement Act 2023 visit: Guidance: Frameworks (HTML) - GOV.UK
Helpful links:
Procurement Act 2023 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents)
Procurement Regulations 2024 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2024/9780348259728/introduction)