Guide to tendering

The public procurement directives are based on three main principles:

• Community-wide advertising of contracts so that all firms in all member states have an opportunity of bidding for them
• The banning of any technical specifications liable to discriminate against potential foreign bidders
• Application of objective criteria in tendering and award procedures

The latter principle is ensured by the following requirements:
 

1. Types of Procedure
   The Directives provide for three types of procedure that contracting authorities can use:
   • Open procedure
     All interested suppliers, contractors or service providers may submit tenders.
   • Restricted procedure
     Only those suppliers, contractors or service providers invited by the contracting authority may submit tenders
   • Negotiated procedure
     The contracting authority consults suppliers, contractors or service providers of its choice and negotiates the terms of the contract with one or more of them.
     Note: The negotiated procedure may be used only in justified cases and if the conditions required for its use are fulfilled.
     For (Utilities) contracts they have a free choice between all three procedures provided that a call for competition notice has been published in the Official Journal.
     It should be stressed that in open and restricted procedures, all negotiation with candidates or tenderers on fundamental aspects of contracts, and in particular on prices, is ruled out; however, discussions with candidates or tenderers may be held, but solely for the purpose of clarifying or supplementing the content of their tenders, or the requirements of the contracting authorities and provided this does not involve discrimination.
      

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2. Contract Types
   Four different types of contract are identified in EU Directives:
   • Works contracts- buildings and civil engineering works
      
   • Supplies contracts- purchasing goods and supplies
      
   • Services contracts- advertising, property management services, architectural / engineering / surveying, management consultancy services and so on.
      
   • Combined contracts - some tenders that are a combination of a supply and service contract or a works and service contract can be classified as a combined contract.
      

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3. Types of tender documents
   Tender documents can be classed as:
   • PINS- Prior Information Notices are published annually as an indication of the possible contracts, which may be awarded in the coming year.
      
   • Opportunities- Tender notices (Invitation to Tender) are aimed at specific contracts and invite suppliers to make an application to be placed on the tender list or to be provided with information.
      
   • Awards- Award notices contain details of which tender contracts have been awarded, the awarding criteria and the successful candidate.
      

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4. Threshold Values
   Bodies and organisations that must comply with these thresholds can be split into two distinct groups:
   
   General - for all Government Departments, Local and Regional Authorities.
   Special - for Public Authorities, Public undertakings and Organisations that operate on the basis of special or exclusive rights granted by a competent authority of a Member State in the water, energy, transport and telecommunications sector.
   
   These threshold values apply to both Tendering Opportunities and PINS.
   
   Tenders
   • Services and Supplies - *General - €200,000 (Directives 92/50 & 93/36) *Where the above threshold is reached by having separate contracts for different lots for Services, then any lot over €80,000 and not exceeding 20% of the total value of all the lots, becomes the threshold.
   • Services and Supplies - Special (*Utilities) - €400,000 (Directive93/38) *The provision or operation of fixed networks for drinking water, electricity or gas (heat); oil/gas exploration and extraction, provision of airports; maritime or other inland ports; public transport.
   • Services and Supplies - Special (*Telecommunications) - €600,000 (Directive93/38) *The provision or operation of public telecommunications networks.
   • Works - *€5,000,000 - General (Directive 93/37), Special (93/38) *Where the above threshold is reached by having separate contracts for different lots, then any lot over €1,000,000 is the threshold. Any lot below this is exempt provided it does not exceed 20% of the total value of all the lots.

   
   Periodic Information Notices (PINS) - €750,000
   Applicable to all Services and Supplies contracts (Directive 92/50; 93/36; 93/38)
   
   Contracts below the various thresholds may also be covered by the Directives. Thresholds exclude VAT

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5. European Directives
   All Government Departments, Local and Regional Authorities, non-commercial State Bodies and organisations dependent on the State for more than 50% of their funding are subject to the Directives. There is a separate regime for the utilities - water, energy, transport and telecommunications.
   • The Works Directive in force is 93/37/EEC (OJ L 199/54 of 9.7.1993) consolidating Directives 71/305/EEC and 89/440/EEC.
   • The Supplies Directive in force is 93/36/EEC (OJ L 199/1 of 9.7.1993) consolidating Directives 88/295/EEC, 80/767/EEC and 77/62/EEC.
   • The Services Directive in force is 92/50/EEC (OJ L 209/1 of 24.7.1992)
   • The Utilities Directive in force is Council Directive 93/38/EEC (14.06.1993)

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