Advertising Contracts

Where the estimated value of a contract is expected to exceed the relevant European Union (EU) financial threshold, currently at £156,442 for goods and certain services, and £3,927,260 for public works contracts, it is advertised in the Official Journal of The European Union (OJEU).

OJEU is available in electronic form only via the internet and free of charge at "EuroGuide European Gateway" and "ted - Tenders Electronic Daily".

Tenders below the EU threshold but with a value estimated to exceed £30,000 will be usually advertised in the trade or local press.

Select Lists of Approved Contractors

Stroud District Council awards a number of contracts throughout the year. As well as advertising in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) where applicable, and in appropriate trade and professional journals, the Council will be using this website to advertise the availability of contracts.

To be considered please complete and return a Contractors Select Tender List below.

• Contractors Select Tender List (Word)

Information We Will Need From You

When you respond to a tender notice, or request inclusion on a select list, you will normally be asked to complete a Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ).

This enables us to assess an organisation's suitability for delivering a particular service, supply or works. This short-listing process saves both our time and yours in effort being unnecessarily spent on completing tender documents by companies who do not meet the selection criteria.

The information we ask for in the PQQ is to verify that an organisation can be identified as a legitimate discrete trading organisation i.e. address of office, registration number and company group information has acceptable levels of economic and financial standing and promotes good practices in areas of racial equality, environmental protection and health and safety. Because longer-term partnership working is becoming increasingly important to us, it is essential that we have a full understanding of our likely partners. The areas usually assessed can be summarised as follows:

Financial Information

In this section, you are asked for certain financial information relating to your company for each of the last two years. The information is used to assess the financial position of your company in relation to the size of the contract. We also require information to check you are registered (if appropriate) for tax and that you will comply with our insurance requirements.

A banker's reference and/or Dun & Bradstreet (or equivalent) report is often requested.

Equal Opportunities

We strongly support equal opportunity, equal access, and positive outcomes for all sections of the community. We strive to ensure that the standards we expect internally are supported by organisations who carry out work for the council and we assess a firm's compliance with Equality legislation In this section, you are asked to respond to questions about how you include racial equality issues in your employment practices.

Sustainability

We are committed to the sustainable development of the district, a fundamental objective of which is the protection and enhancement of the environment. We expect organisations that we deal with to have similar levels of commitment.

Health and Safety

All organisations are required to submit a Health and Safety Policy signed by a senior person, which refers to Health and Safety legislation

Experience and Technical Ability

We ask about your relevant experience and technical ability to carry out the categories of work or type of service that you wish to provide. You will be asked to provide a minimum of three references. We will also normally ask further questions tailored to match the needs of the individual contract. Your responses and supporting evidence will be used to assess whether you have the required level of skills and abilities to tender in relation to other interested firms.

Workforce Matters

A well-trained and motivated workforce is vital to the provision of Best Value services. We will use our influence to ensure, so far as possible, that those who work for the authority, whether directly or indirectly employed, are adequately and fairly rewarded and trained.

The government has published a Code of Practice on Workforce Matters in Local Authority Service Contracts (February 2003) that will apply where a local authority transfers employees to a private or voluntary sector partner as part of a contract to provide any local services. These measures are meant to prevent the emergence of a two-tier workforce, dividing transferees and new joiners working beside each other on the same contracts.

The Procurement Strategy outlines our strategic approach to procuring goods, works and services, people's responsibilities, how we intend to manage procurement in the future.

It is intended to review the strategy annually, to monitor the progress we are making and set out new actions for subsequent years.

In addition to the strategy, we are working on a set of procurement rules, to complement the Financial Regulations and provide guidance to all staff and Members involved with procurement across the authority. It is also intended to produce a user-friendly reference guide to sit on people's desks.

• Procurement Strategy (PDF 58 KB)

Rules and Regulations

As a local authority, there are regulations at a European, national and local level that we need to follow. These are summarised below:

European Rules

European Procurement Directives promote non-discriminatory and transparent competition and stipulate timescales that must be observed.

Where the estimated value of a contract is expected to exceed the relevant EC financial threshold, currently at £156,442 for goods and certain services, and £3,927,260 for public works contracts, it must be advertised in the Official Journal of The European Union (OJEU).

This is an invitation to potential providers to formally register their interest. Following evaluation of these expressions of interest a tender list is drawn up. Invitation to tender documents will then be sent out that will indicate the evaluation procedure that will be used. Once the contract has been awarded, an Award Notice will be published in OJEC giving brief details of the company selected.

National Rules

Whilst there is no general requirement for local authorities to tender out specified services, we have a duty to ensure our services are competitive and that we aim to continuously improve them.

Council Rules

The Council has its own contract standing orders that regulate how we conduct our business. These standing orders govern how procurement of different values must be handled. They ensure that the process is based upon fair, transparent and open competition.