Transforming Towns

6. Procurement rules - Getting quotes

When procuring works, goods and services using money awarded from the grant, you must conduct the process in a manner which ensures openness, value for money and fairness.
In order to support the local economy, we encourage you to source at least one quote from a local supplier where possible.

You must follow these procurement procedures:

Up to £4,999
A minimum of 1 written Quotation must be obtained and retained.

Best value for money must be obtained and reasonable care must be taken to obtain goods, works or services of adequate quality at a competitive price. A documented record to support the decision must be retained for audit purposes.

Applicants are requested to ‘Think Carmarthenshire First’ when seeking quotations for the purchase of Goods/Services. Please therefore, explore the market place to establish if there are any businesses within Carmarthenshire that can provide the goods / service that you are seeking to purchase. Applicants may be required to demonstrate such quotations have been sought

£5,000 - £24,999
A minimum of 3 written Quotations must be sought from competitive sources*. The quotes must be based on the same specification and evaluated on a like for like basis.
A documented record of the quotes sought, the evaluation process and the decision to award must be recorded.

Applicants are requested to ‘Think Carmarthenshire First’ when seeking quotations for the purchase of Goods/Services. Please therefore, explore the market place to establish if there are any businesses within Carmarthenshire that can provide the goods / service that you are seeking to purchase. Applicants may be required to demonstrate such quotations have been sought

£25,000 - £74,999
A minimum of 3 written Quotations must be sought from competitive sources*. The quotes must be based on:
• the same specification,
• the same evaluation criteria and evaluated on a like for like basis. It is best practice to establish an evaluation panel.
• the same closing date.

A documented record of the quotes sought, the evaluation process and the decision to award must be recorded for audit purposes.

** In the event that only one tender is received, you must contact the Project Manager from Carmarthenshire County Council (CCC) to provide details and justification of the procurement process you have undertaken. The decision to proceed to purchase must be approved by CCC on a case by case basis. In circumstances where it is evident that more than one tender could be sought, there may be a requirement to advertise via Sell2Wales.

NB – spend thresholds of £75k and under are exclusive of VAT

Goods and Services £75,000 and £213,477 A minimum of 4 tenders must be sought from competitive sources*, with a minimum of 2 tenders to be received**.
All those tendering must be provided with the same information: the same specification of requirements,
• an outline of the evaluation criteria against which the contract will be awarded and
• the same closing date for receipt of tenders, after which no submissions will be accepted.

The evaluation process you follow must be consistent with the original evaluation criteria outlined and an evaluation report produced detailing on what basis the successful tender was awarded. It is best practice to establish an evaluation panel to evaluate tenders.

** In the event that only one tender is received, you must contact the Project Manager from Carmarthenshire County Council (CCC) to provide details and justification of the procurement process you have undertaken. The decision to proceed to purchase must be approved by CCC on a case by case basis. In circumstances where it is evident that more than one tender could be sought, there may be a requirement to advertise via Sell2Wales.

Works £75,000 - £5,336,937
A minimum of 4 tenders must be sought from competitive sources*, with a minimum of 3 tenders to be received**.
All those tendering must be provided with the same information:
• the same a specification of requirements,
• an outline of the evaluation criteria against which the contract will be awarded and
• the same closing date for receipt of tenders, after which no submissions will be accepted.
The evaluation process you follow must be consistent with the original evaluation criteria outlined and an evaluation report produced detailing on what basis the successful tender was awarded. It is best practice to establish an evaluation panel to evaluate tenders.

** In the event that only one tender is received, you must contact the Project Manager from Carmarthenshire County Council (CCC) to provide details and justification of the procurement process you have undertaken. The decision to proceed to purchase must be approved by CCC on a case by case basis. In circumstances where it is evident that more than one tender could be sought, there may be a requirement to advertise via Sell2Wales.

For contracts in excess of £250k in value:

In selecting contractors for the tender list, it is recommended that that appropriate due diligence and financial checks are undertaken on these parties.

As a minimum, due diligence and financial checks must be undertaken on the preferred contractor following the evaluation and prior to contract award.

NB - spend thresholds for Goods / Services under £213,477 and works under £5,336,937 are exclusive of VAT

If you intend to purchases goods or services above the thresholds set out, please email TransformingTowns@carmarthenshire.gov.uk and we will let you know the procurement rules you will need to follow.

*You can advertise on the National Procurement website, www.Sell2Wales.co.uk. This can help if you have difficulty identifying suppliers or would like to attract new suppliers to provide a quote. Advertising on Sell2Wales is best practice, however you may feel that you can already identify suppliers who could provide the best overall offer.

Avoiding conflicts of interest

We recognise that you may have relatives, business partners or friends that may wish to provide a quote. This is acceptable, but you will need to ensure that the tendering process is carried out in an open, transparent and fair manner, as outlined above, which does not give one person or company any advantage over another.
You will need to declare the conflict of interest in your application and the person who has an interest must not take part in the evaluation procedure.