Excluding bidders from a tender process

The Cabinet Office have issued a Procurement Policy Note reminding the public sector of the Regulations concerning excluding bidders from tender processes that are subject to The Public Contracts Regulations. Should you be running your own tender processes for contracts exceeding £181k, this is a must read policy note. It explains in more detail the mandatory and discretionary grounds for exclusion contained in the mandated Selection Questionnaire which you must use when publishing a contract opportunity on Open Journal of European Union (OJEU) – or whatever systems replaces it should we Brexit with no deal!

The PPN also describes how to evaluate any ‘self-cleaning’ evidence supplied by bidders, namely that measures taken by the bidder are sufficient to demonstrate their reliability despite an exclusion ground applying and also has some useful guidance on preventing and managing conflicts of interest.

You don’t need to consider any of these grounds for exclusions if you are using a CPC framework agreement as we have already done all of this work for you!

Should you have any queries on excluding bidders from a tender process, do contact your local Regional Procurement Advisor for assistance.