​​Source your suppliers

Approach the market

Put together your tender or proposal documents and advertise your opportunity on GETS if you're using an open procurement process.

RFx templates

Putting your tender documents together

Make sure you:

• use plain English and write as succinctly as possible. Avoid legalese, jargon and acronyms.
• don't draft your requirements or specification in a manner that creates unnecessary obstacles for suppliers or providers
• align your requirements, the evaluation criteria and the response form questions – eg if the supplier or provider is required to hold a particular accreditation, make sure there is a matching evaluation criterion and a response form question asking for details
• avoid asking for unnecessary information.

Log into GETS

Apply for GETS eligibility

Answering supplier questions

Holding a supplier briefing

Receiving responses

Evaluate offers and make a shortlist

The evaluation panel assesses all the offers based on the agreed criteria and methodology and makes an official recommendation for a shortlist or preferred supplier.

Evaluating offers

Conduct due diligence

You must, at a minimum, complete due diligence on your preferred provider before entering negotiations or awarding the contract. You can also use due diligence checks during the tender, including as part of your shortlisting process.

You complete due diligence by doing things to independently verify a supplier or provider:

• is who they claim to be,
• has the financial ability to deliver, and
• has the necessary capacity and capability to deliver over the life of the contract.

How to conduct due diligence

Negotiate with the preferred supplier

Negotiate with the preferred provider to reach an agreement.

For large or complex projects, your procurement specialist can help you make a negotiation plan and conduct the negotiations.

Planning a negotiation

Draft the contract

The contract should:

• be drafted using plain English
• accurately record all agreed commitments, expectations and obligations, including all negotiated points.

The contract should include clear performance or outcome measures that cover:

• quantity - how much of the product or service is to be delivered
• quality - how well the product or service is to be delivered
• effect - the impact or outcomes expected.

It should also include or reference:

• any standards or codes of practice that must be met
• obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.

Contract templates

Award the contract

Once the evaluation panel's recommendation has been approved and any conditions (eg reference checks) have been met, you can award the contract to the preferred supplier or provider. Both parties need to sign the contract before it becomes binding.

There should be a separation between the person signing the contract and the person who will have day-to-day responsibility for contract management. Most agencies adopt the ‘one-up’ system, where a manager at the next level up signs the contract.

You must:

• inform everyone who submitted tenders that a decision has been made - either directly or by publishing a notice
• publish a post-award notice on GETS that includes:
  • the successful supplier’s name and address
  • a description of the goods or services being supplied
  • the contract term
  • the contract value (its maximum estimated total value over its entire duration).

Debrief the unsuccessful suppliers

You must offer a debrief to any supplier or provider that has taken part in a competitive procurement process. The debrief can be over the phone, by email or letter or face to face.

In the debrief, you must:

• provide the reasons why an offer was not successful
• explain how the offer performed against the evaluation criteria
• indicate the advantages of the successful offer
• answer any concerns or questions from the provider.

The information you give should be detailed enough to show the provider how they could improve for future opportunities.

How to conduct a debrief

Now is a good time to review the sourcing exercise.

Review previous procurements