Procurement and Social Value

Ambition North Wales has developed a clear set of principles which is the foundation of all its and its partners activity:

• Regional Leadership and Strategic Approach
  • Strategic
  • Promote
  • Integrity
• Fair, Legal and Compliant
  • Compliant 
  • Without conflict
  • Transparent
• Sustainable
  • Efficient
  • Ethical
  • Climate and econogical
  • Supporting local supply chains
• Adding Value
  • Social value
  • Collaboration
  • Innovation
  • Skills, jobs and opportunities

Purchasing decisions are complex and are not always based solely on price. For example, we would consider if goods and services are:

• fit for purpose (quality and suitably for the task)
• delivery and availability against price
• cost of ownership
• whole life cycle costs, including spare parts, maintenance, costs and projected down time
• on-costs, such as transport and storage
• the cost of procurement itself
• sustainability, environmental and corporate social responsibility

Goods and services are paid for with public funds and so rules are in place to ensure a high level of transparency at all stages of the procurement process. Broadly speaking the rules fall into five groups:

• European procurement directives
• UK legislation
• Financial regulations of the council
• Contract and procurement rules of the council
• Policy decisions of the council

Our evaluation and award process must be as fair and transparent as possible in order to not only achieve best value but to create a strong supply chain and comply with legislation.  Each Invitation to Tender document will give details of how the process  / score is obtained.

This is the method by which costs and price are brought into consideration. Lowest price is not always the best option and tenders will be assessed to determine which offers the "most economically advantageous tender".

Tenders are scored comparatively against each other and a weighted scoring matrix is devised for each tender exercise which will show how each offer compares against the specification and assessment criteria. Consequently, this will also show relative comparisons between tenderers.

Tenderers are frequently invited for interviews at which they are encouraged to make presentations in support of their bids. This gives the company and us the opportunity to ensure that every aspect of the tender has been understood and also allows the company to ask further questions.

The decision to award a contract to a particular company does not rest solely with the officers involved in the tender evaluation. A recommendation report is compiled and shared with senior members of the PMO as well as boards to confirm the decision. For high value or significant contracts, the decision will also include elected members. At any stage the tender process is open to scrutiny by our internal auditors.

All unsuccessful tenderers will be advised as to why their bid was unsuccessful. It is a useful way of finding out how a company can improve its business opportunities.

Business Wales offers suppliers the following:

• Independent one to one support and specific workshops on how to be successful in the tendering process
• Guidance on how to complete a tender
• General support on how to run a business

Business Wales 01745 585 025

For further details you can contact:

• Sara Jones / Ambition North Wales Procurement
• Social Value Portal (insert link)
• Cyngor Gwynedd's Tendering and Procurement

xxxx

xxx

xxx

Ethical employment

Carbon emissions and biodiversity 

Data protection policy

Link to welsh gov website

Link to Wellbeing and future gen info

Terminology

Live contracts list

We advertise our tenders’ opportunities on the Welsh Government’s portal: Sell2Wales (you will also find other information there such as early market engagement events, contract notice awards and Prior information notices.)

Yes. When you register on Sell2Wales you will create a profile for your business. By providing detailed information about your business within the profile you it will help Sell2Wales to determine which tenders could be of interest to your business.

If you have included your full details and correct Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) codes, the system will send you an automatic e-mail when there is an advert placed that is relevant to your business.

The CPV codes are the codes used to identify different fields of work.  You can find further information on the Sell2Wales website or by contacting Business Wales on 01248 672672.

No, there no is no charge to register and the system is simple to use.

No. The Sell2Wales website is used by all public sector bodies in Wales. This means that you can promote your business, see all public sector contract notices, and make contact with the entire public sector within Wales.

If you register you will be able to;

• have access to the latest news and events in Wales regarding procurement and tendering,
• participate in supplier/buyer forums to discuss best practices,
• search the database of suppliers to find possibilities of submitting bids jointly,
• download useful documents, e.g. EU legislation, tendering guidelines, buyers' policies and articles on how to succeed.

Ambition North Wales must confirm to the European rules when tendering for work with a value over a certain threshold. Further information and details about the thresholds are available on the Office of Government Commerce website.

Example terms and conditions can be found here (insert link).