Procurement will happen at many stages within the lifecycle of the project. It may happen multiple times in parallel or sequence. This process shows the activity to develop and implement a procurement strategy and procure goods and services within the Plan of Work project lifecycle.
Provided by: Overall Procurement Process
Procurement will happen at many stages within the lifecycle of the project. It may happen multiple times in parallel or sequence. This process shows the activity to develop and implement a procurement strategy and procure good and services within the Plan of Work project lifecycle.
The information below gives a general overview of the different steps within a procurement process.
Internal guidelines on the processes to be followed and documentation required are usually provided by local authority procurement officers/teams or designated representatives. The information provided below is a guide to general best practice, but local processes may vary.
The key steps identified are:
Please bear in mind that the following procedures refer to contracts that are above public procurement thresholds.
❌ Not taking into account specific needs of the local authority
❌ Not using mandatory internal processes
❌ Not collecting the necessary documentation
✅ Check your internal ‘procurement initiation’ documents
Most councils have internal guidelines on what information needs to be collected and provided to the procurement team
❌ Procuring unnecessary resources
✅ Assess ability to deliver without procurement
Before starting the pre-procurement activities, a local authority should assess whether the required knowledge, skill sets and capacity for delivering the service exists in-house or with a partner organisation
❌ Market is not mature enough to respond positively
❌ Engagement is too narrow
❌ Suppliers don’t have enough time to respond
❌ The process is perceived as non-transparent
❌ Not taking advantage of lessons learned by other local authorities
❌ Missing the opportunity to join forces with other local authorities looking for a similar outcome
✅ Assess the market’s ability to deliver project needs
Before developing a business case, it is crucial for a local authority to assess the market. This consists of conducting an intelligence study to gain a good overview of the current state of the technology or service that will be procured, important trends and factors driving the cost. The ultimate scope of this assessment is to become an ‘intelligent customer’.
There are several activities that can be carried out to assess the market.
Some examples are:
Additionally, it is advisable to engage with other local authorities that have tried or are trying to reach a similar outcome.
You should be asking the following questions: (Derived from Crown Commercial Service, 2017)
This will allow a local authority to further shape the specification, gather ideas on new innovative products and understand if there are any changes within the market that may influence the requirements.
Some good practice during market engagement is:
✅ Contact all suppliers from your shortlist
✅ Provide a reasonable time limit to email requests and to make sure suppliers know when they need to respond by
✅ Keep an audit trail of all communication
✅ Do not limit contact to suppliers that you know
✅ Avoid contacting suppliers in different ways; each supplier should be given an equal opportunity to respond (for example, don’t email some suppliers and phone others to discuss your requirements)
✅ Do not forget that all suppliers can bid when you issue your final specification
❌ Lack of defined outcomes and scope
❌ Wrong procurement route for the outcomes required
❌ Unrealistic timescales
❌ Inadequate budget
✅ Check your internal procurement policy
Every local authority should have an internal procurement policy. Being tailored to the specific needs of the local authority, these policies have higher priority than central government's procurement guidelines. Thus, it is always advisable to consult the internal procurement policy at the very beginning of the pre-procurement activities.
Internal procurement policies may imply a variation of the steps presented on this page. Refer to your procurement team or legal department for further guidance.
✅ Check your internal procurement strategy
Refer to your procurement team
If not available already, the local authority should develop a procurement strategy
Example of existing procurement strategies:
✅ Define procurement approach
Review the different procurement procedures and options available
Identify which procurement routes are fit for purpose
Consider that some grants or public funding will require specific procurement procedures. Check with your procurement team or legal department
✅ Assess the possibility of using commercial purchasing tools (frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems)
Review what commercial purchasing tools are available
*✅*I*f suitable look for existing frameworks or dynamic purchasing systems*
✅ Review your business case
Review best practices for developing a business case
Take into account potential changes that may have occurred while gathering information or engaging with stakeholders.
✅ Gain internal sign-off for procurement strategy
Procurement may happen at any stage, depending which goods and services are being procured.
❌ Poorly defined outcomes in tender
❌ Incorrect award criteria
✅ Create tender documentation from brief focusing on outcomes
The necessary documentation will depend on the selected procurement procedure and local processes.
Procurement for outcomes can sometimes be a more successful approach depending on the maturity of the solutions available in the marketplace and the needs of the project.
Procurement may happen at any stage, depending which goods and services are being procured, although the procurement strategy should be outlined in Stage 1: preparation and briefing.
A project may run many procurements or lots in parallel if they are needed to deliver a single solution.
❌ Lack of engagement
❌ Lack of good responses
❌ Delays in response that invalidate quoted prices
❌ Responses are not in both budget and scope
❌ Suppliers don't have enough time to respond
The process to follow will depend on the chosen procurement procedure. See the image below for a high-level overview of the different procurement processes. IMAGE TO BE ADDED
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