6.11 The Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 set out the criteria on which the NHSScotland body may award a services contract. It will be on the basis of an offer that offers the lowest price or is most economically advantageous overall to the NHSScotland body. NHS bodies should seek to award their contracts on the latter basis and must expressly refer to this in their OJEU notice, the ITPD and IFT.
6.12 When the NHSScotland body proposes to award the contract on the basis of economic advantage, it should state its evaluation criteria where possible in descending order of importance in the contract notice, ITPD and IFT. If they are not in such order then this should be made clear. As noted above, the weightings may be expressed as a range to reflect the dialogue process.
6.13 The factors for evaluating economic advantage of the bid are described in Regulation 30 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. They include: period for completion or delivery, quality, aesthetic and functional characteristics, technical merit, after-sales service, technical assistance and price.
6.14 Other evaluation criteria may be taken into account but these must be impartial, objective, and should be aimed at assessing best value for money (i.e. they must be directly relevant to the performance of the contract). A key criterion is also the acceptance of the proposed allocation of risks by the bidder. Full acceptance should be required for a bid to be compliant at the Final Tender stage.
6.15 The evaluation team may define the minimum standards which participants must attain for their bid to be shortlisted and a Final Bid requested. In addition to or in place of minimum standards, the team should establish detailed criteria against which each bidder will be measured. Some will be given more weight than others. Any approach must be decided upon and the reasons for it fully documented before the evaluation criteria are issued. The evaluation criteria must be consistently weighted throughout the duration of the contract.