Significant changes have been made to the pre-qualification and tender documentation for construction-related service providers. The changes to the pre-qualification process are to streamline the procedure for both applicants/tenderers and for contracting authorities. The assessment methodology for awarding contracts set out in the tender documents (Section 9.5 in the Instructions to Tenderers) has been amended to ensure that quality is the deciding factor in the award of contracts for service providers.
Two standard pre-qualification questionnaire templates have been developed; one for a restricted procedure and the other for an open procedure. They are based upon the QC 1 and QC 2 forms but have been modified to integrate the Safety and Health assessment and a facility to declare certain criteria into a single form. This innovation permits the withdrawal of supplements 3.4.1 (Health and Safety Competence of Designer), 3.4.2 (Health and Safety Competence of PSDP) and 3.4.3 (Health and Safety Competence of PSCS) since these Safety and Health criteria will now be assessed under the new QC 1 and QC 2 forms. These new forms are designed to provide greater flexibility in their use and as a result QC 3 (Independent PSDP) and QC 4 (Independent PSCS) have been withdrawn.
Contracting authorities will decide which criteria in any qualification process may be self-declared by the applicant/tenderer and which criteria require the evidence supporting the applicant’s/tenderer’s claims that they meet the standard set out in the questionnaire.
The changes to the forms will require Safety and Health declarations to be provided prior to appointment as against at the pre-qualification stage and to reflect this, three new model forms; MF2.4, MF2.5 and MF2.6 for general service providers, PSDP and PSCS roles respectively, have been included under the Model Forms section of Pillar 2. The requirement to submit these declarations (where required) has been included in the Particulars to the Instructions to Tenderers and in the Letter to Successful Tenderer.
Guidance Note GN1.6.3 – Prequalification of Consultants using Minimum Standards for Suitability Criteria sets out suggested minimum standards to be used in the suitability assessment questionnaires for service providers.
The amendments are set out in greater detail below:
The following amendments are being made to documents under Pillar 2 – Instructions to Tenderers (Services):
Pillar 2
The following amendments have been made to the Instructions to Tenderers (Services) ITT S1a, ITT S1b, ITT S2a and ITT S2b:
Section 9.5 Assessment Methodology –
subsection (a) changed to state the minimum requirements that a tender must achieve under quality criteria
subsection (d) – formula to give ‘price’ score has been amended to deduct 0.5% of the total marks available for price for every 1% difference between the lowest eligible tender and the tender under consideration. A written formula has also been included.
subsection (e) – has been amended to provide that the tenderer who scores the highest marks for quality when all criteria have been taken into consideration is given the maximum marks available for quality. A formula is then provided to ensure that all other tenderers have their score adjusted proportionately.
subsection (f) – a formula has been provided to ensure that the overall marks awarded to tenderers reflects the Quality : Price Ratio set out in the Particulars. A section has been included to describe the circumstances where two or more tenderers may have the same score at the end of the evaluation process.
Section 10.2 Notification
This section has been amended to take account of the new suite of notification letters, which are now available on the Capital Works Management Framework under Pillar 2 – Model Forms – Notification Letters
Section 10.3 Letter to Successful Tenderer
This section has been changed to reflect the removal of the Letter of Intent and its replacement with the Letter to the Successful Tenderer included in the new suite of notification letters referred to above.
Model Forms MF2.1, MF2.4, MF2.5 and MF2.6
MF2.1 Professional Indemnity Insurance Certificate has had some minor amendments – formatting only.
MF2.4 Health and Safety Compliance Declaration by all general service providers is a new Safety and Health declaration to be provided by a service provider who may be considered a ‘designer’ under Regulation 2 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 2006 – 2013. This declaration must be signed and returned by the successful tenderer prior to appointment.
MF2.5 Health and Safety Compliance Declaration by PSDP/HSC is a new Safety and Health declaration to be provided by a service provider to be appointed to the role of Project Supervisor Design Process under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 2006 – 2013. This declaration must be signed and returned by the successful tenderer prior to appointment.
MF2.6 Health and Safety Compliance Declaration by PSCS is a new Safety and Health declaration to be provided by a service provider to be appointed to the role of Project Supervisor Construction Stage under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 2006 – 2013. This declaration must be signed and returned by the successful tenderer prior to appointment.
Pillar 3
Suitability Assessment Questionnaires for Service Providers – QC 1 and QC 2 both version 2.0
QC 1 v2.0 – Suitability Assessment Questionnaire for the restricted procedure includes changes to the pre-qualification process for service providers. The form structure remains familiar to users however this belies the substantial change to the document which now incorporates the Safety and Health Supplements into a single form that is intended to be signed by the Principal Service Provider declaring that they meet those qualification criteria that the contracting authority has set out as appropriate for self-declaration. As a result, contracting authorities are now required to generate a separate SAQ for each Principal Service provider.
QC 2 v2.0 – Suitability Assessment Questionnaire for the open procedure includes similar amendments to those outlined for QC 1 v2.0 outlined above.
The Employer Notes for QC1 and QC2 have been updated to reflect the changes.
QC 3, QC 4 and Health and Safety Supplements 3.4.1 (Health and Safety Competence of Designer), 3.4.2 (Health and Safety Competence of PSDP) and 3.4.3 (Health and Safety Competence of PSCS) have all been withdrawn.
Appendices C1 and C2 which are Health and Safety Declarations have also been withdrawn.
Pillar 4
New guidance note GN1.6.3 – Prequalification of Consultants using Minimum Standards for Suitability Criteria
This new guidance note sets out suggested minimum standards to be used in the suitability assessment questionnaires for service providers.