A single stage procedure asks bidders to submit all relevant information at the same time.  This will usually take the form of a completed SPD document, alongside the bidders response to the rest of the procurement documents e.g. Invitation to Tender (ITT).

In this instance the bidders’ SPD responses should be assessed on a pass/fail basis, and none of the questions should be scored and weighted, as there is no requirement to shortlist.

In a two-stage procedure, bidders will provide the information in two distinct stages.  Firstly the bidder will submit the SPD for evaluation by the buyer.  All of the exclusion questions and most of the selection questions will be assessed on a pass/fail basis. 

The technical and professional ability section of the SPD also includes the ability to score and weight questions.  This allows the buyer to rank responses and shortlist a number of bidders to invite to tender.

The scoring and weighting methodology must be fair, transparent and clearly explained to all bidders upfront.

Buyers should detail the scoring and weighting process that will be used in the Contract Notice or within the SPD module on Public Contracts Scotland.

Bidders must be given the opportunity to provide evidence that they have taken sufficient and appropriate remedial action i.e. they have ‘self-cleansed’. If you are satisfied that the evidence provided is sufficient to demonstrate reliability, you must not exclude the bidder from the procurement procedure on those grounds

The bidder must satisfy that it has:

• paid, or undertaken to pay, compensation for any damage caused by the criminal offence or misconduct;
• provided detailed facts and circumstances by collaborating with the investigating authorities; and
• taken appropriate concrete technical, organisational and personnel measures to prevent further criminal offences or misconduct.

When considering any self-cleansing measures, organisations must consider all relevant factors.  This includes the gravity and particular circumstances of the criminal offence or misconduct.

If you believe the bidder’s remedial action is insufficient to demonstrate reliability, you must provide the bidder with a statement outlining the reasons for the decision. The statement of reasons must be provided in writing as soon as is reasonably practical to allow the bidder to understand why the self-cleansing measures taken are insufficient.

Standardised statements have been developed to support you in explaining your selection criteria to bidders. 

Each standardised statement is aligned to a selection question in the SPD. You should select the statements that are relevant to your procurement exercise.  In some instances, you are able to adapt them.

The full list of statements can found in the standardised statement document, at the bottom of this page and an example is included below:

Some of the standardised statements, for example those relating to Environmental Management Legislation and Quality Management Procedures, are very lengthy. Therefore you should review these carefully and ensure that you only select only those parts of the standardised statements that allow you to specify your minimum requirements. You should be careful to ensure that the criteria included is proportionate..

This process will enable you to adopt a standard approach to defining the selection criteria in Contract Notices.

If using the online SPD module on PCS there is no need to add the statements to the Contract Notice, it should be added directly beside the question in the module.

More information on where to state information in the Contract Notice can be found on the Contract Notice and Advertising station.

Where the bidder is relying on other parties to meet the selection criteria for example as part of a consortium or is using a sub-contractor, you should request a separate SPD response from each party being relied on.

These parties should complete the exclusion criteria section of the SPD and whichever selection questions, the main bidder is relying on them for.

If the bidder is using a sub-contractor but not relying on them to meet the selection criteria, each sub-contractor should complete an SPD response.  In this instance, they will only need to complete the exclusion criteria.

The responses should be evaluated alongside the main bidders SPD response.

Where a party meets the mandatory grounds for exclusion you must require that the main bidder to replaces them.

Where there are discretionary grounds for exclusion you may require the bidder(s) to be replaced.  This should be considered on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the various circumstances of the procurement exercise.

Where a bidder relies upon the capacities of other entities with regard to criteria relating to economic and financial standing you may require the bidder and those entities to be jointly liable for the performance of the contract.

In the case of supply or service contracts your organisation may require certain critical tasks to be performed directly by the bidder itself or, where the tender is submitted by a group of bidders, by a participant in that group.

You can find more information on the SPD for a works contract by emailing: PropertyandConstruction@gov.scot

In the case of Care and Support Services, the mandatory exclusion grounds (regulation 8 of Procurement (Scotland) Regulations 2016) must be applied to all procurements. An organisation can also choose to apply the discretionary exclusion grounds and selection criteria.  It is best practice to use the SPD for this purpose.

You may use Part V of the SPD when using PCS-Tender to reduce the number of already qualified candidates who meet all the exclusion and selection criteria in the SPD.

• Part V of the SPD can only be used for restricted procedures, competitive procedure with negotiation, competitive dialogue procedures and innovation partnerships. It cannot be used in the case of open procedures and negotiated procedure without prior publication. Part V may be used if it is proportionate and relevant to the contract, and it is specified in the Contract Notice.
• If you decide to use Part V of the SPD, you need to specify the objective and non-discriminatory criteria or rules to be applied, the minimum number of bidders and where applicable, the maximum number the organisation intends to invite to tender or conduct dialogue. This information must be accompanied by requirements concerning any (types of) certificates or forms of documentary evidence, , to be produced, as set out in the relevant Contract Notice.

The minimum number of bidders that may be invited to a Restricted Procedure by an Organisation is five. In any event, the number of candidates invited must be sufficient to ensure genuine competition (note: if the number of bidders meeting the selection criteria is fewer than five the procurement can still proceed). In a competitive dialogue, competitive procedure with negotiation and innovation partnership the minimum number of candidates taken forward by the Organisation is three. In any event the number of candidates invited must be sufficient to ensure genuine competition (note: if the number of bidders meeting the selection criteria is fewer than five the procurement can still proceed).

If you are using PCS-Tender financial ratios these should be included in the Contract Notice or procurement documents.

If you are using the online SPD module on PCS, there is a drop-down menu of ratios to choose from. These use standard terminology from the Scottish Government Accountancy Services.  Your organisation may use different terminology than these.  If this is the case, or you want to add other ratios not listed, you can use the other financial requirements question to specify your ratio.