Tender adjudication process
The SBD/WCBD6.1 document must form part of all bids invited. It contains general information and serves as a claim form for preference points for Broad -Based Black Economic Empowerment (B -BBEE) Status Level of Contribution, and explains how tenders or bids are decided.
The document says:
- The bidder obtaining the highest number of points will be awarded the contract.
- Preference points shall be calculated after prices have been brought to a comparative basis.
- Points scored will be rounded off to two decimal places.
- In the event of equal points being scored, the bid will be awarded to the bidder scoring the highest number of points for specified goals.
What this means is that after the closing date, an elementary check is done of all the tenders submitted to see if they comply with the formal requirements of the tender. If, for example, you have not indicated a price, your tender will be disqualified.
Small mistakes or omissions may be deemed insufficient to disqualify you from the tender process; this is a question of interpretation of the tender rules. For example, if the rules say "may disqualify" rather than "must disqualify" for a specific mistake, it is up to the official involved to decide whether the mistake is important enough to the particular tender to warrant your disqualification.
Thereafter the compliance of your product or service is compared with the specifications and price as per the terms of reference. Those submissions that do not comply with the specifications are removed from the list, while all the tenders which comply with the specifications are listed in order of price. Those that fall in the lowest price group are placed in a "lowest price tender" list.
At this stage the preference points come into play. All the preference points claimed by those on the list of lowest priced tenders are first verified. Then the formula is applied to determine who of those on the lowest price list, and whose points are verifiable, come out with the best result on points, and therefore who should be awarded the tender.
Preference points therefore only come into play after the most expensive tenders have been excluded. This is to ensure that the most expensive options do not win solely on points, and also to speed up the process, as only those on the lowest price list have their preference points verified.
The relevant tender bulletin announces tender winners, listing the price and other factors taken into account in awarding the tender.
