Private companies regularly provide services to public authorities, bodies governed by public law and others who are subject to a public procurement obligation. These companies will therefore regularly have to participate in procurement procedures and submit applications for prequalification and tenders in order to be able to enter into a contract with the contracting entity in question. Due to the complexity of procurement law, a tenderer who does not regularly participate in procurement procedures can easily make mistakes in the process. Such mistakes can often result in the tenderer either not being prequalified to submit a tender at all or the supplier's tender ultimately being considered non-compliant and thus rejected.
Pre-qualification
If a procurement procedure involves an application for prequalification, there will be a number of requirements for the tenderer's suitability, which the tenderer must be able to prove that they meet in order to be prequalified. It is important that the tenderer carefully familiarizes himself with exactly what requirements are set and exactly what documentation is required, as even small errors will result in the application for prequalification being rejected. CLEMENS has extensive experience in identifying these requirements and assists clients throughout the process.
In this context, CLEMENS offers to assist the tenderers with:
- Reviewing the tender documents to carefully identify the requirements to be fulfilled
- To prepare application for prequalification
- To assess whether the refusal of prequalification is correct
- To file a complaint with the Complaints Board for Public Procurement or take legal action
Submitting an offer
As with the prequalification process, it is important in the tendering process that the tenderer identifies the exact requirements that the contracting entity has set for the content of the tender to be submitted. This also applies to the submission of the tender, as even small errors in the tender can lead to rejection of the tender. CLEMENS often assists tenderers in identifying these requirements and ensuring that the tenderer meets the requirements when preparing the tender. If the contract is to be offered according to the criterion "the most economically advantageous tender", the contracting entity will have to evaluate the tender for the purpose of awarding points. In this situation, the tender specifications will typically contain very detailed scoring models. It is important that the tenderer has a sharp focus on this, as it is recommended that the tender submitted relates very closely to the scoring models. At CLEMENS, we have extensive experience in ensuring this, and we regularly advise our clients on this.
In this context, CLEMENS offers to assist the tenderers with:
- Reviewing the tender documents to carefully identify the requirements to be fulfilled
- Preparing and quality assuring offers
- To assess whether the refusal of an offer is correct
- To file a complaint with the Complaints Board for Public Procurement or take legal action
Did you receive a rejection?
A contracting entity is obliged to justify its rejection of your tender as soon as possible after its decision. Experience shows that it often happens that the contracting entity's reasons for the rejection are not adequate. It can therefore be difficult for a tenderer to assess whether it is possible to successfully appeal to the Complaints Board for Public Procurement. At the same time, an appeal must typically be made within the standstill period if the tenderer is to have a chance of being awarded the contract. In order to assess the possibilities during an appeal, there will typically be a need to request a supplementary statement of reasons and access to the tender submitted by the tenderer who has been awarded the contract.
CLEMENS has extensive experience to:
- Assess whether the justification given is sufficient and, if not, ask for a new justification
- Request access to documents
- Make an assessment of whether the unsuccessful tenderer has the prospect of being successful in a complaint to the Complaints Board for Public Procurement or a lawsuit before the ordinary courts.