Procurement - grant fund manager - dynamic purchasing system (DPS): buyer guide

Supplementary information

Fair work

For more information on Fair Work practices please see the Scottish Procurement Policy Note SPPN 1/2015.

When establishing the DPS, it was a requirement that suppliers confirmed that  they would pay staff involved with the delivery of call-offs from the DPS the Real Living Wage. Upon establishment of the DPS, CVFM positively encouraged Fair Work and the suppliers were notified that Fair Work practices may be included within call-offs. As such, buyers are encouraged to incorporate Fair Work practises within their individual call offs and build this into their ITT.

Cyber security

Buyers are responsible for ensuring Cyber Security requirements are included and assessed as part of the call off process. More information on Cyber Security is available.

Data protection

Buyers are responsible for ensuring data protection elements are checked and addressed if required as part of the call off process. See the data protection impact assessment for further information.

Awarding contracts

There is no obligation for buyers to undertake a standstill period.

In all regulated procurements, for example, those valued in excess of £50,000, including a DPS call-off, the Scottish public sector bodies must publish an appropriate Contract Award Notice on Public Contracts Scotland.

Further information

Providing feedback back into Scottish Procurement on issues relating to the DPS and the contractor’s performance can be done by contacting the team at cvfm@gov.scot.

It is strongly recommended that you include details of any community benefits you want to be delivered as part of the service - you should include these at invitation to tender stage of your call-off.  ‘Community benefits’ are social considerations which include not only targeted recruitment and training, but also equal opportunities, training for the existing workforce, supply chain initiatives, community consultation, ‘considerate contractor’ schemes, contributions to education, the promotion of social enterprises, and resources for community initiatives.

The DPS cannot be used for “Direct Awards”. The procurement rules state that each requirement under a DPS must be competed and all suppliers must be invited to bid.

The standstill period is not obligatory for individual contracts awarded under a DPS.

There is no minimum time period that you have to respond to tenders. However we would recommend a minimum time period for receipt of tenders is 10 days from the date on which the call for competition was sent. An appropriate and pragmatic timescale should be provided to allow Suppliers a reasonable time to respond.
When there is a substantial number of suppliers on the DPS, effectively resourcing and undertaking competitions for individual contracts becomes a priority.  The DPS is no more onerous than the Open Procedure for individual contracts; in fact it is easier, as you will only have to examine tenders received and not assess supplier’s exclusion and selection status for every contract (SPD). We also know from experience that suppliers will “self-select” what tenders they bid for and it is unlikely that all suppliers will bid for all invitations to tender. As the DPS is for services commonly available on the market, it may also be possible in many cases to run relatively straightforward award evaluation criteria, which will help to keep resource requirements in check.  The process you adopt must be fully transparent to the suppliers and must clearly layout your evaluation process.

Providing feedback is required for all call off contracts with a contract value of £50,000 or above.  Below the £50k threshold it is advised that buyers should offer to provide feedback which also can be seen as being good practice.  Where you do provide or offer feedback you should treat all suppliers equally.

There is no minimum/maximum duration for the contract call-offs but the duration should be proportionate. Procurement rules specifically allow “overhang” in frameworks so there is no reason to consider that proportionate overhang would be impermissible in DPS. As with all procedures, the DPS should not be used in a way which will distort or prevent competition.