The Redland City Council’s tender process usually involves various steps. See below for information about each step.
Download the Preparing tender documentation guide [PDF 0.3MB], which includes a checklist to ensure you include everything.
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Council uses a variety of methods to procure goods, services or works needed. This may include the following:
Request for quotation When contract does not exist, we approach suppliers on existing arrangements (contract). Request for tender When the intended expenditure is more than $220,000 (including GST), Council must invite public tenders if no exception exists under the Local Government Regulation 2012.
Expressions of interest Council may invite expressions of interest before inviting tenders when this will save Council and suppliers time and resources in responding to a full tender.Once this process is completed, Council may invite a shortlist of respondents to tender on the proposal. This does not need to be advertised. LGA arrangement, or an arrangement with or under a government arrangement Council may enter into a contract for goods and services without first inviting written quotes or tenders if the contract is with a supplier from an arrangement established by: - the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) / Local Buy Pty Ltd
- another federal, state or local government agency.
Register of pre-qualified suppliers or approved contractors lists Council may compile a register of pre-qualified suppliers or approved contractor list by inviting expressions of interest or public tenders. Once compiled, further quotes from members may be required. A pre-qualified supplier has the technical, financial and managerial capabilities to perform contracts on time and in line with requirements. A register of pre-qualified suppliers can be established only if: - the preparation and evaluation of invitations each time the goods or services are needed would be costly
- the supplier’s capability or financial capacity is critical
- the supply of goods and services involves significant security considerations
- a precondition of an offer to contract is compliance with particular conditions or standards set by Council
- the ability of local business needs to be discovered or developed.
Preferred supplier arrangements Council may establish a preferred supplier arrangement when works, goods or services are needed in large volumes or frequently. Once established, further quotes from members may be required. Sole supplier, specialised or confidential arrangement Council may enter into a contract without first inviting quotes or tenders if either: - only one supplier is reasonably available
- the goods or service required are specialised or confidential.
A genuine emergency Council may enter into a medium-sized or large contract without first inviting quotes or tenders where a genuine emergency exists. -
Council prepares an invitation to tender that usually contains:
- notice to tenders - a brief background to the tendering processes and objectives of the tender
- conditions of tender - the rules for Council's tender process
- specifications - the requirements that goods, services or works must meet.
- conditions of contract - the terms on which Council will do business, including rights and obligations of each party
- tender deliverable attachments - information from suppliers for Council evaluation
- any other application documentation - further information context/background to Council's requirements.
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Tenders and expressions of interest are open to the market for at least 21 days. Currently, they are advertised via one or more of the following media:
- Council website
- VendorPanel Public Tenders
- QTenders
- Redland City Bulletin
- The Courier-Mail
- other media and journals applicable to the scope of work.
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Council may hold supplier briefings if it believes these briefings would lead to a successful procurement. Details of any supplier briefings, including whether attendance is mandatory or optional, are included in the tender documentation.
The supplier briefing informs potential suppliers of the specifications, site conditions, conditions of tendering and conditions of contracts.
Suppliers are able to ask questions at these briefings, which are documented with the responses as an addendum to the tender.
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Before responding, all suppliers should:
- read all documentation provided
- attend any pre-tender briefing sessions/site inspections being held
- lodge any questions in accordance with the conditions of tender
- plan and prepare their response
- submit their response in the right format and before the closing time.
Read more about preparing tender documentation [PDF 0.3MB].
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If there has been a change in the tender specification, Council may invite all who submitted a tender to change their tender to account for the change before it makes a decision on those tenders.
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Evaluation criteria
The Council’s evaluation criteria is outlined in the tender documentation and generally includes:
- mandatory criteria—tenderers must meet mandatory criteria to move to the next stage of the evaluation process
- financial criteria—the weighting of this deliverable depends on the process type
- non-financial criteria—weightings are allocated to specific aspects of the project. The percentage allocated to the weighting indicates the importance of the activity
- local content criteria—weightings are allocated to suppliers located in the Redlands area, employing local staff and using the services of local business if they can demonstrate competitive rates and service qualities.
Further information and post-tender negotiations
During the evaluation stage, Council may request clarification. If requested, the supplier must submit the required information by the due date and time. If they fail to do so, their tender may be deemed ‘non-conforming’ and will not be evaluated further.
Council may also enter into post-tender negotiations (i.e. negotiate with suppliers after the close of tenders) when it has expressly reserved this right in the tender conditions. All suppliers who proceed to this stage are invited to enter into negotiations.
The commencement of negotiations with one or more suppliers does not indicate that a supplier's response has been unsuccessful or successful.
Council handles all negotiations with the utmost integrity and maintains equal opportunity for all suppliers throughout the negotiations.
Responsibilities of evaluation panel
The evaluation panel:
- establishes suppliers’ technical and commercial compliance
- identifies bids not meeting mandatory requirements
- establishes total or life cycle costs
- confirms the capability or capacity of product and supplier to perform
- assesses the technical suitability of each offer
- assesses commercial cost benefits of each offer
- determines company costs of the offers received
- determines the best value for money
- documents the reasons for not accepting the best conforming offer
- assesses risks arising from the evaluation process.
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Once Council has received approval to award the contract, the successful supplier is notified.
The successful supplier receives formal notification via either a letter of acceptance, formal instrument of agreement and/or a purchase order with a contract reference number. They must receive formal notification before carrying out any works, goods and/or services.
After receiving this and returning any requested additional information to the approval of Council, the supplier can deliver the goods and/or services to Council.
Note: An order or a letter is not required when Council's corporate credit card is used.
Council monitors the supplier’s performance at regular review meetings held throughout the contract period.
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Tender debriefs are conducted with all unsuccessful tenderers upon request. This feedback helps suppliers submit future tender submissions and is not a comparison with another tenderer's submission.
Council does not give any tenderer information about another tenderer’s submission unless required by law.