Public procurement – working with suppliers

For suppliers, we advise and assist to help you navigate the complex interaction of common law rules, regulations and principles governing the public procurement arena to achieve your objectives and win tenders. We can assist with preparation and/or scrutiny of proposed bid submissions to assist in responding to tender opportunities effectively and maximising your chances of success. Finally, we can assist in helping you understand award decisions and in challenging those decisions where appropriate.

Hempsons have successfully overturned a number of procurement processes on behalf of bidders, for example advising the two trusts in Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust & Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v Lancashire County Council [2018] EWHC 1589 (TCC).

Key Services for suppliers

We advise suppliers at all stages of a process: market engagement; during a process; and, post award.

The main issues we are currently advising suppliers on:

  • How best to maximise the chances of being successful – see bidding support
  • Challenging a tender process
  • Working with providers bidding to deliver strategic estates partnerships.

Bidding Support

Hempsons has an established and dedicated procurement team with a national reputation for excellence. Acting for both contracting authorities in the public sector and suppliers and bidders means that we have extensive experience of providing quality advice to bidders when bidding for contracts with, and in contracting with, the public sector, funders and consortium/JV partners.

We can also provide high quality support and advice for organisations in receipt of grant funding who are required to run a competitive process and who may not ordinarily do so in the normal course of business.

Key services we can provide:

  • Helping you understand the legal obligations of the public authority and how to use the rules to your advantage
  • How to effectively engage with public authorities during pre-market engagement and “bidder days”
  • Advising on procurement and bidding strategies to maximise your chances of success
  • Providing training sessions – how to bid effectively: what will the evaluators focus on and how will they score bids
  • Structuring consortium bids with partners including maximising your bid proposal as well as documenting consortium bids appropriately, including confidentiality and exclusivity, heads of terms and consortium bidding arrangements
  • Assist you in eliciting key information through the clarification process to improve your tender response
  • Advising you on getting full debrief if you are unsuccessful, both under procurement legislation and the Freedom of Information Act (where relevant)
  • Advice on whether you should challenge a decision of the public authority – how do you challenge and what information do you need to make that assessment, time limits for challenge

We can provide key “packages” of work at fixed rates to help you through the bid process, for example:

  • Review and constructive critique of your draft tender response against the tender requirements, including a meeting if required
  • Guiding you through the clarification process
  • Initial advice if you are unsuccessful and want more information / considering informal / formal challenge
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