Purchasing procedures and regulations

The new tender legislation is stated on April 1, 2013. The law has been adapted by the First Chamber and the Council of the State. Amongst others, the measures of the newly stated law should lead to:

• more competition (and opportunities for SMEs)
• reducing administrative burdens
• a more uniform tendering approach
• a simpler handling of complaints

The recently stated amendment has a lot of consequences for negotiated contracts. This is not unusual, since almost 70% of the Dutch public purchase volume is related to assignments below the European threshold. Some of the most important consequences are:

• Principle of proportionality
  More opportunities are given to the small and medium-sized enterprises and the self-employed to participate in the open tender due to the new tender legislation. According to the law, the requirements an entrepreneur sets should be commensurate with the command.
• No clustering of assignments
  Assignments can no longer be clustered in a way that prohibits small and medium-sized enterprises from participating in the bid. For example, an organization with multiple establishments can no longer tender the cleaning of all their buildings to one company. This way, a smaller cleaning company can still participate in the bid.
• More uniformity in procurement rules
  Especially for assignments that are not a European tender, companies manage different procedures for their tendering services. This leads to extra costs for the companies that use these services. The new tender law therefore also obliges the use of procedures for national tenders (ARW/Aanbestedingsreglement Werken).
• Obliged motivation
  The company that provides a tendering service should be able to motivate its choices during the tendering project. For each tender a dossier should be composed.
• Creating social value
  A tendering service should create as much social value as possible while entering an agreement.
• Tender/rejection
  The tendering service communicates the accepted tender through a written notification with relevant reasons to all the subscribers.
• ARW 2013
  Aanbestedingsrichtlijnen Werken (ARW 2013) is required to be applied.
• Information notice
  The information notice is required to be applied in a tendering process.
• Tender criteria
  The tender law dictates that a tendering service adopts the criterion of Economically Most Advantageous Tender instead of a lowest bid criterion.
• Complaints/Committee of procurement experts
  The organization is requested to state a contact point for complaints. The reason for this is that suppliers can now file a complaint regarding a tendering project more easily. Next to that, a national contact point for complaints will be established, where suppliers can file their complaints if they cannot agree with the answers supplied by the contact point of the company. The possibilities for suppliers to file complaints is thus greatened.

Consequences

Because the new tender law has a lot of influence on negotiated contracts, we want to attend you on the (also financial) consequences. More opportunities are created for small and medium-sized enterprises to enter the bids due to this law. These companies especially will pay great attention to the governmental organizations and their compliance to the law. They are more likely to file a complaint since the threshold for filing a complaint is reduced through the instatement of a (national) contact point for complaints. Next to that, the new legislation will be monitored by accountants. A complaint can result in a procurement being shutdown, dissolved or in an annulment of a recently closed agreement and/or a fine.

Contact the purchasing department

The department of Purchasing can help you to regulate your procurements smoothly, while taking into account the new legislation without getting into trouble. These problems with negotiated contracts and European tenders can be easily avoided if you contact the Purchasing department (in accordance with the attached and modified procurement procedures).

This notice and the modified procurement procedures can be found on the University’s intranet. If there are any questions or ambiguities regarding purchasing, please contact the department of Purchasing through Geert Jan Westhof, Manager Purchasing, on 053-4894548 or through mail: g.j.westhof@utwente.nl.

This is the Procurement & Tendering Policy of the University of Twente (UT), successor to the Purchasing Policy 2013 and Tendering Policy 2017. The reason for rewriting the policy is the far-reaching professionalisation of UT’s procurement function that is taking place (partly as a result of the implementation of a new Purchase-to-Pay system) and the many changes in the field of procurement in the public domain. In particular, this includes socially responsible procurement and new laws and regulations.

The purpose of the policy is to provide frameworks and guidelines that apply to UT’s procurement.

The products list methodology was developed to enable objective supplier selection for tenders on cultural and civil engineering works and any related services, divided into the following main categories:

a. Services and deliveries < 207K
b. Works < 1500K
c. Works > 1500K only if no national public procedure applies 

The University of Twente supports fair competition, and moreover, UT considers being a good client to be an important value. Legitimacy, efficiency, and professionalism are safeguarded through this procedure.

The methodology’s efficacy is currently being tested via a pilot for paintwork and both over and underground infrastructure.

COVENANT SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT HIGHER EDUCATION

On December 3 in 2008, minister Cramer and representatives of schools of applied sciences and universities, signed the covenant for sustainable procurement. The higher education institutions are now required to focus on sustainability: the goal is that all schools of applied sciences and universities is that 50% of all procurement is sustainable in 2012.

During the covenant, minister Cramer added: “Next to the for the sustainability requirements for procurement, I would like to ask you to take the wishes of SenterNovem regarding sustainability seriously.”

WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT?

Sustainable procurement is the procurement of sustainable development where social-economic, ecological en cultural aspects are in a dynamic balance. The result is that future generations will have the same chances as current generations to meet their needs. This is called the triple P approach: regulating a right relationship between People, Profit and Planet.

WHY SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT?

The government supports the implementation of sustainable procurement via the Sustainable Procurement programme.

Goals are: be an example for others, achieve immediate environmental benefits, influence the market by creating a demand for less environmentally harmful products and services; influence the market by stimulating product innovation aimed at improving the environment.

The client is responsible for:

• Selecting and appointing a project leader;
• Communicating with stakeholders within the organization who have given him the mandate for the client role and the contract;
• Ensuring support within the project and the University of Twente
• Providing resources (budget, resources, manpower);
• Accountability for the progress throughout the project;
• Approving or rejecting the Plan of Approach for the tender/project plan;
• Selecting the tender strategy/model;
• Approving or rejecting changes in time, money and scope during the project;
• Approving or rejecting the quotation request;
• Accepting the provisional award proposal.

The project leader is responsible for:

• Organising the tender team;
• Compliance with the schedule;
• Organising the communication process;
• Informing the persons responsible for the project;
• Providing award advice to the client;
• Approving all documents to be delivered;
• Timely provision of input for the quotation request and any other tender documents;
• Reporting;
• Drawing up the statement of requirements with the subject material expert(s) and the purchaser. The subject material expert is responsible for:
• Contributing to the preparation of the statement of requirements and also responsible for the ultimate quality of the (form and content) of the tender documents;
• Communicating and informing the internal organization for the statement of requirements;
• Ensuring support within the project and the University of Twente;
• Timely provision of input for the design brief and any other tender documents;
• Describing the organization in terms of tasks, responsibilities and activities during the implementation and utilisation phase;
• Answering questions in the information memo;
• Assessing submitted tenders. The purchaser is responsible for:
• Providing support and guidance for the tender;
• Providing purchasing expertise concerning the European tender procedure;
• Monitoring the tender process;
• Contributing to the preparation of the statement of requirements in cooperation with the subject material expert and the project leader;
• Compiling, editing and publishing the quotation request and related documents;
• Implementing the tender process through the online Negometrix tool;
• Identifying potential consequences of mutations in the process and the schedule;
• Timely provision of the draft agreement;
• Any legal checks of all relevant documents;
• Substantial contribution to the tender team;
• If applicable, cancelling ongoing contracts in consultation and on behalf of the client;
• Drawing up the award advice and the related award and rejection letters to participants. Use of tender attorney:The University of Twente does not employ any tender attorneys itself and an external expert must be hired, if necessary. The internal agreement has been made that Kienhuis Hoving shall be engaged in these circumstances. The costs of hiring Kienhuis Hoving in specific tenders will by default be borne by the Procurement Department. The tender attorney is responsible for:
• Verifying the formats used by the Procurement Department upon request;
• Answering questions*;
• In case of complex tenders****:
• Answering questions during the preparation of the tender strategy to be used, identified (risky) choices during the procedure, and context;Checking the design brief/quotation request for legality (risks)**;Checking the preparation of the (draft) agreement and associated SLA;Answering legal questions in the information memo (potentially checking the draft answers of the purchaser);Advising in case of doubt about interpretation of submitted bids, potentially having these corrected, etc.Checking proposed award letter and rejection letters to participants***. 

* The purchaser will, based on common sense, estimate whether a tender attorney must be consulted.

** The purchaser will inform the tender attorney about the subjects in the design brief which demand specific attention. 

*** The tender attorney will make an estimate whether the arguments and formulation are legally tenable (sufficiently objective). The tender attorney cannot assess the completeness. He or she can ask critical questions, however.

**** A tender is complex if it meets one or more of the following aspects:

• It is not a repeat tender with minimal adjustments of already existing tender documents.
• There are no ‘standard’ tender documents (award criteria, statement of requirements etc.) available for the product or service.
• There is no existing knowledge about the market present within the UT; it still needs to be developed.
• The contract has a direct relationship with an important part of the primary process of the UT.
• The contract is politically sensitive and/or has administrative focus.
• There is significant time pressure.
• It concerns an innovative contract form or tender procedure.
• There are multiple internal budget holders with divided interests involved in the tender, who must be heard during the project.

If there is any discussion as to whether or not a tender is complex, the Procurement Manager will have the final say.

ANNEX 1: PHASING OF TENDER PROCESS AND CORRESPONDING RESPONSIBILITIES

THE TENDER

The tender consists of four phases.

timeline:  week/month            week/month              week/month     week/month                  week/month

The above phasing is based on a public tender procedure. The phasing must be adjusted if another procedure is selected.

The Procurement Department has a new vision for the period 2021-2025.

The purpose of this vision is to outline the ambitions and spearheads of the Procurement Department, and to translate these into concrete actions and results. This procurement vision makes the translation of the UT's strategic objectives and influential external developments into procurement objectives and in this way shows what contribution Procurement can and wants to make.

As from 1^st January 2019 the University of Twente uses new General Purchasing Terms and Conditions for the purchases of services and deliveries (AISUT 2019).

Furthermore the following conditions officially apply:

• Uniform Administrative Conditions for the Execution of Works and Technical Installation Works 2012 (UAC 2012)
• Legal relationship client – architect, engineer and consultant (DNR 2011)
• General Government Terms and Conditions for IT contracts (ARBIT 2018)

The General Purchasing Terms and Conditions of 2004 remain valid for all ongoing contracts, extensions of ongoing contracts and already placed purchase orders.