The Freedom of Information Act 2000 became statute on 01 January 2005. This gives people the general right of access to information held by or on behalf of public authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, thereby promoting a culture of openness and accountability across the public sector. Potential suppliers must be aware that information that they provide to the Trust as part of a tender submission may be made available to the public (this potentially includes their competitors). Certain types of information can be excluded from publication under the terms of the Act. Should a tenderer believe exemptions apply to any information provided at the time of Tender it should be identified as part of the tender process.

Please see our supplier representative interface policy on our procurement homepage under ‘By appointment’.

Register on the Due North e-tendering portal, giving your chosen areas of interest, you’ll then get an email every time there is a relevant opportunity.

Our tendering process, selection of bidders and award of contracts are fair, open and objective. We use criteria in our documentation to determine which offer is the most economically advantageous and offers the best quality over the lifetime of the contract e.g. approach to health and safety, price and ability to meet the essential requirements. We do not distinguish between small and large organisations and we evaluate all potential suppliers in the same way.

When responding to tenders, you need to make sure you clearly demonstrate that you meet the required standards and service delivery requirements at an economically advantageous cost.

Unless detailed otherwise, the standard terms and conditions for the purchase of goods and supply services apply to all purchases made by the Trust. If you are involved in a specific procurement process with the Trust, then you will be notified of any special terms and conditions or framework agreement terms and conditions that apply to the contract, during the invitation to tender or invitation to quote stage.

Procurement regulations allow us the choice between the “lowest price” and the “most economically advantageous tender” (MEAT). Our policy is to use MEAT when selecting tenders and it can be broken down as the combination of quality and whole-life costs that will meet the user’s requirements. For more information please refer to our Tender Evaluation guide on our website.

We have an obligation to seek competitive prices. Generally, it is the level of value and risk that determines if we ask for a quote or goes out to tender.

OJEU is available in electronic form only via the Internet on Tenders Electronic Daily (TED).

Tenders are advertised on the Trust’s website, Contracts Finder (Business Link), Due North e-tendering portal and, if the European thresholds are exceeded, the OJEU (Official Journal of the European Union).

The contract documentation needed will be provided when we invite you to tender. The documentation will normally comprise 3 main sections depending on the contract.

These will be as follows:

  • Specification – this describes the work to be done and the standards required;
  • Terms and conditions of the contract – these set out the rules of the contract that will be entered into between us and the appointed contractor;
  • Pricing document – this enables the tenderer to set out and provide a price for the work or goods.

In addition, depending on the type of contract, other documentation could include – Plans or details of sites (where applicable); relevant policy documents you will need to observe.

For information on how we process your information as supplier /potential supplier please visit our privacy notice here.