Essay About Authoritys Needs And Basic Idea Of Tendering

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Although the basic idea of tendering is to choose the contractor based on the
tenders submitted during a formal tendering procedure, for various reasons
authorities may want to engage in discussions with firms after their bids have been
submitted and/or allow firms to revise their bids. For example, this may be done to:
! Clarify ambiguities in tenders;
! Allow amendments where tenderers have made errors, such as where there
are arithmetical mistakes or where they have misinterpreted the
specification, or for other reasons submitted a non-compliant tender;
! Suggest improvements to tenders which might meet the authoritys needs
better; or
! Get firms to improve their offers if the authority feels they do not offer value
for money.
Some or all of these practices may be thought objectionable because they may (i)
undermine the transparency of the process, thus allowing authorities to give
opportunities to favoured firms to improve their offers to win the contract once the
authority knows the content of the other offers are known; and (ii) undermine the
principle of equal treatment by giving some firms the chance to improve their offers
which are not given to other participants. It is necessary to achieve a suitable
balance between these basic principles of equality and transparency and the need
(as outlined above) for some discussions or amendments if the authority is to
obtain the best possible value for money.
The current law on these issues is not very clear as the directives themselves
contain no express provisions dealing with the extent to which these practices are
permitted.