Invite tenders

You may wish to pre-qualify potential suppliers to ascertain their suitability to be invited to tender (in terms of financial stability, general capability, capacity and experience). This can be achieved by using the Supplier Questionnaire. This short questionnaire is designed to provide departments with some essential information about the potential suppliers; additional questions specific to the requirement may be added if required.

Pre-qualification is useful where a long-list of potentially suitable suppliers has been identified.

If the Supplier Questionnaire is not used it is recommended that as a minimum you complete the checks set out in the Supplier Suitability Checklist to confirm the supplier is suitable to undertake the work and conduct business with the University.

The Invitation to Tender gives suppliers a brief outline of the University and also contains important information that should be made known to suppliers at the outset of the process.

It also gives suppliers a clear indication of the various steps involved in the process and the required deadline dates.

The invitation to tender document, the specification and the proposed draft form of contract should be sent directly to the suppliers via email (note: where the Purchasing Department lead the tender process the documents will be issued via Source-to-Contract system, GEP).

If a supplier asks a question during the tender period, the question and answer should be anonymised and sent to all suppliers (unless it is of a commercially confidential nature) to ensure fairness. 

The deadline for tender returns is determined by the department giving consideration to the complexity and value of the requirement. Departments should bear in mind that as well as preparing the tender, suppliers may need to clarify parts of the requirement and will have internal approval processes to follow. Three weeks is the minimum timescale recommended.