3.40 Many of the issues raised during the review surrounding evaluation and debriefing apply to public procurement more generally rather than being Competitive Dialogue specific. These issues include consistency and transparency, convergence in scoring, the implications of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and the publication of evaluation criteria.
3.41 HM Treasury has had discussions with the ERG on the issues of evaluation and debriefing, alerting them to the views expressed during the roundtables. The ERG has published guidance on preparing an evaluation strategy, regardless of procurement route and is currently working on revised guidance specifically applicable to complex procurements.
3.42 Recent guidance on the application of the Remedies Directive recommends authorities provide a thorough debriefing session to unsuccessful bidders and these principles of disclosure should be applied throughout the Competitive Dialogue process.2
3.43 While also widely applicable to all procurement routes, the issue of the quantity of information requested by contracting authorities is particularly pertinent to Competitive Dialogue procurements. Roundtable attendees were of the opinion that in the majority of cases too much information is being requested by contracting authorities and that it was not always clear why information was requested.
3.44 Contracting authorities should only ask for information directly relevant to the evaluation process, bear in mind the cost and time required to complete detailed submissions and remember that these costs and timescales increase with the number of bidders involved in the procurement.
3.45 A recent Competitive Dialogue procurement carried out by the Department for Works and Pensions (DWP) was explicit on the value of each piece of information requested from the Bidders, linking each response to the relevant section of the evaluation criteria, including clear instructions on the mandatory responses and providing opportunity for bidders to clearly highlight where their proposal offered greater value for money or enhanced service provision.
3.46 It is clear this type of thorough approach is not widespread amongst contracting authorities. Bidders frequently complained of being asked for nugatory information and reported instances where pertinent information submitted as part of the bid had been missed by evaluators and subsequently not scored.Not only did the DWP approach demonstrate clearly to bidders how prepared the authority was, it also reassured bidders that they were not engaging in costly bid submission preparations for no purpose.
3.47 On each future Competitive Dialogue procurement, the authority should produce a detailed guide to the evaluation approach to be taken, setting out the value of each piece of information requested and linking each response to the evaluation criteria will reduce bid costs for the private sector, reduce the administrative burden for the public sector and facilitate the swifter and more accurate evaluation of bids.
3.48 The ERG is developing new guidance for tender evaluation of complex procurements. It is being developed with government and industry experts so maximising its utility in areas that are not so straightforward, addressing the pitfalls in tender evaluation that departments may not be aware of or have the experience to deal with adequately. The guidance will enable a more informed preparation to be made for this critical stage of complex procurement.
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