Partner Article

Understanding PQQs - Pre-qualification questionnaire glossary

If you are not too familiar with completing a PQQ, you may have come across words and phrases that make the process even more complicated.

We hope that you find our PQQ glossary helpful. I have tried to list these PQQ terms in the order of which you may encounter them.

PQQ – Starting with the obvious, this stands for Pre-qualification Questionnaire. This is a document given to interested suppliers to narrow down the selection process via a list of compliance and competency questions. PQQs are designed to exclude not include, so they need to be addressed properly.

OJEU Notice – This stands for Official Journal of the European Union, which houses higher value contracts that exceed certain thresholds set by the EU. Thresholds fluctuate from year to year but generally any contract for major works the threshold is around £3.5M and for services and supplies is around £140,000. The OJEU notice is the contract notice itself.

Lots – Some contracts may be split up into different sections if the client requires different services for the same contract, or there are different areas/regions or councils involved. For example a client may need grounds maintenance services covering the whole of Yorkshire; this may be split in to smaller lots of south and north Yorkshire.

Contracting authority – The client who requires the supplies, services or works that the contract notice advertises. i.e. Your local council or housing association.

Expression of interest (EOI) – If you come across a contract notice that you feel your company can fulfil, you will need to inform the contracting authority that you wish to apply for the contract before you can obtain the PQQ documents. Instructions on how to do so will be out lined in the contract notice and is usually a simple email or a few clicks on the website/portal.

MEAT – this is the criterion that is used in the evaluation of a tender. It stands for Most Economically Advantageous Tender and means that factors such as sustainability, technical capacity and quality are also taken into consideration in the evaluation of the submission. In other words, apart from the price, what else is going to make the company economically worthwhile to employ for the job.

Restricted procedure – or restricted tender, describes a bid process in which only pre-approved suppliers are invited to proceed to the next stage. This is usually done via a PQQ.

Frameworks – a framework agreement is a contract to appoint a list of approved suppliers who will be called upon by the buyer when services or works are required. Being part of a framework agreement will not guarantee you any work.

This PQQ glossary has just a few of the terms that may be used in a pre-qualification questionnaire.

If you have any other terms that you need defining, tweet us @PQQExpress and get the answers you need.

Alternatively, if you need more help and would like us to take the PQQ writing off your hands, call us now on 0800 978 8056 or email info@pqqexpress.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by PQQ Express .