Tamworth Borough Council (TBC) spends in the region of £25m per year on an assortment of goods and services. They are procured in a variety of ways ranging from small one–off purchases requiring quotations to large formally tendered contracts. Obtaining best value for money is always a prime consideration when conducting a purchase and TBC actively encourages suppliers to contribute towards achieving this goal. Whether you are a small or large company, TBC is keen to hear about new suppliers and the goods and/or services that they can provide.

This brief guide aims to provide suppliers with a basic overview of how they can compete for a share of TBC’s business.  

For purchases below £10K TBC will usually request written quotes from selected potential suppliers. Suppliers may be sourced from a combination of those previously known to supply the required goods or services; those who have registered their details and categories of goods/services they are able to supply on our in-tend e-procurement website (see below), and from those who have provided us with information about themselves and the goods and services that they can provide. It is our intention in future to steadily introduce and encourage use of the quotation facility that is available on the in-tend website for many of the purchases expected to fall within this price range.

TBC, like a number of other councils and Universities, is increasingly using the in-tend website to advertise its larger contract requirements. The website is currently used for those purchases anticipated to approach or exceed £10K and that may well require use of a formal tendering process. You will be able to view any requirements we have advertised by visiting our webpage and clicking on ‘Current Tenders’ but, in order to access any associated documents, you will need to register your organisation first. Our web address is: www.in-tendhost.co.uk/tamworthbc  

Registration only takes a few minutes and, once completed, does not have to be done again in order to access any future tendering opportunities with TBC. Remember, it is your organisation that is being registered with TBC and not the individual. If other individuals within the company wish to have access to the website, their details can easily be added by a colleague who already has access without any need for re-registration. 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: If an individual does re-register your company they will not be allowed to register it using the company name originally used for registration. Some amendment must be made to the company name such as the addition/deletion of Ltd, or plc etc. before the in-tend system will accept it. Unfortunately, where this is done, the in-tend system then recognises the new entry as a totally independent company to the one originally registered. The individual who completed the re-registration will be tied to the newly registered company and, as such, only be allowed to access the system or participate in any tender process in that company’s name.   

Within a few minutes of registering your company details you will receive an e-mail confirmation and password. You will then be able to view all current requirements by logging on to the site with your password and then clicking on the “Current Tenders” button on the left hand side of the screen. As previously stated, you can view current tenders without registering and having a password but you will not be able to access any tender documents or further information.

If when logged in you find a requirement that you may be interested in, select the item and then click on the “Express Interest” button. You will receive a further two e-mails within a few minutes confirming that you have expressed an interest and informing you that documents are now available for viewing. Expressing an interest does not commit you to anything - it just tells TBC that someone may be interested in tendering whilst making any associated documents available to you.

Following receipt of these e-mails you will find that the requirement you have expressed an interest in will have been transferred from the “Current Tenders” folder to the “My Tenders” folder. This can now be viewed by clicking on the “My Tenders” button on the left hand side of the screen. You will now be given the choice of either opening and viewing the documents or downloading them. Instructions on how to upload any completed tender documents will also be displayed on the screen prior to viewing or downloading the original documents. Depending on the value of a contract, the market size and perceived risk to TBC, suppliers may be requested to complete a Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) prior to being evaluated for short listing to the tender process.

All communication, relating to a requirement on the website that you are in the process of tendering for, should be conducted as correspondence via in-tend.

There are around 100 organisations across the UK advertising their requirements via this method. If you would like to see what other potential opportunities there are to supply your goods and/or services then visit the in-tend website at www.in-tend.com  where you can view the current tenders of all of these users. On the webpage click the cursor on the Community tab at the top of the page. On the next page click the cursor on the Current Tenders button. By clicking on “All” a list of all organisations who advertise their requirements on the system, together with links to their websites, will be revealed. If you want to be more selective, instead of clicking on “All” select one of the sectors that you may be interested in serving (e.g. local authority, Higher Education etc.). A map of Britain will then appear - click on a region with the cursor and a list of all organisations within that region and that are in the sector you chose will appear. If you would like to see all sectors within that region then move the cursor to the top of the page where you will find a smaller map of Britain - click on the same region again and a list of all organisations representing all sectors for that region will appear. You can quickly visit each one to view what current tender opportunities are being advertised. Should you find something of interest you will need to register your company with that organisation on the in-tend system, if you haven’t previously done so, in order to access any documents associated with that particular requirement - as described above for TBC. 

For more information contact the Council’s Corporate Procurement Officer at procurement@tamworth.gov.uk or telephone 01827 709371.