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Rule 16:
Sufficient time

Primary requirement

  1. Agencies must allow sufficient time for suppliers to respond to a Notice of Procurement (Rule 17).

Application

  1. Agencies must:
    1. act in good faith and use sound judgement when calculating sufficient time
    2. provide the same amount of time for all interested suppliers
    3. provide a minimum of 20 clear business days for suppliers to respond to a Notice of Procurement.
  2. Agencies must take the following factors into account when calculating sufficient time:
    1. the nature and complexity of the procurement
    2. the type of information and level of detail suppliers need to provide in their responses
    3. the nature of the goods, services or works
    4. how simple or difficult it is to describe the deliverables
    5. the level of risk
    6. the extent of any anticipated subcontracting or the likelihood of joint bids
    7. how critical the procurement is to the agency’s success
    8. the time it takes for domestic and foreign suppliers to submit tenders, particularly if you have asked suppliers to deliver hard copies
    9. the impact of public holidays on suppliers.

More information

Definitions of clear business day, minimum time, and sufficient time

‘Clear business day’ means one full business day from 9am to 5pm.

‘Minimum time’ means the least amount of time, set by the Rules, that an agency must allow suppliers to respond to a particular contract opportunity.

‘Sufficient time’ means the time a government agency must give suppliers or providers to respond to a Notice of Procurement, to support:

  • quality responses
  • the integrity of the process
  • the agency’s reputation as a credible buyer.

Providing sufficient time

Sufficient time is critical to receiving good responses from interested suppliers. To decide what’s sufficient:

  • Be realistic. Set timelines that are:
    • fair to all suppliers
    • reflect the nature and complexity of the information you’re asking for.
  • Take weekends and New Zealand statutory holidays into account. For dates, see Dates for public holidays and anniversary days – New Zealand Government.
  • Avoid publishing contract opportunities on GETS right before Christmas or in early January. If you do have to publish during this period, consider allowing a longer response time, unless there’s a strong business reason for not doing so.
  • If there’s the possibility of joint bids, consortiums or subcontracting, allow more time so suppliers can consult and collaborate.
  • Consider extending your timeframe if there’s a late release of material clarifications or supplementary documentation. This lets suppliers update their responses accordingly. Consider the impact of extending the time on suppliers – they may need to review their entire submission and repeat their internal review and sign-off processes.
  • Understand what factors may influence timing, for example, the length of tender documentation and response requirements, time to ask and respond to questions about the tender, and whether the sector or specific suppliers have high workloads. 
  • Allow extra time if you have not included the opportunity in your Future Procurement Opportunities, are not using GETS to advertise the opportunity and not accepting responses electronically. The minimum time set out in this Rule assumes you have done all three.

Don't jeopardise the results you could achieve with a rushed process. If you don't allow sufficient time, you may limit the:

  • number of suppliers that can respond and the quality of their responses
  • level of competition and your agency’s ability to get the best public value, including economic benefits to New Zealand
  • choice of solutions offered and your agency’s ability to purchase the right one.

Minimum time periods for two stage procurements

When conducting a two-stage procurement process, agencies must give suppliers a minimum of 20 clear business days to prepare and submit a response to the Request for Tender or Request for Proposal (second stage of the procurement).

For the Registration of Interest/Expression of Interest part of a two stage procurement, agencies will need to ensure they allow suppliers sufficient time to respond meaningfully given the information requested, when determining the minimum number of clear business days they give suppliers to prepare and submit a response.

Minimum time periods for secondary procurements

When conducting secondary procurements, agencies should refer to the Notice of Procurement and Panel Guide, for minimum time periods (see Rule 22).

Late responses to the Notice of Procurement

An agency may, in its Notice of Procurement, reserve the right to accept a late response in exceptional circumstances if there is no material prejudice to any other interested supplier. An agency should not accept a late response if:

  • there is any risk of collusion on the part of the supplier
  • the supplier may have knowledge of the content of any other response
  • it would be unfair to any other supplier to accept the late response because the late supplier is given additional time to prepare its response.
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