Restricted Tender
The EU procurement directive timescale calculator for a restricted tender provides the following recommended timetable. Some elements are mandatory and some are discretionary.
| Stage | Description | Set by EC directive or discretionary | Calendar days |
| 1 | PIN published in OJEC | Optional | |
| 2 | Notice sent to OJEC | Suggest 30 days after Prior Information Notice published | 0 |
| 3 | Closing date for response to notice | Minimum 37 days set by EC directives | 37 |
| 4 | Appraise candidates and prepare shortlist | Suggest you allow a minimum of 7 days | 7 |
| 5 | Issue Invitations to Tender to shortlist | 1 | |
| 6 | Closing date for tenders | Minimum 40 days set by EC directive | 40 |
| 7 | Evaluate tenders | Suggest minimum of 10 days | 10 |
| 8 | Agree preferred supplier and award contract | Suggest minimum of 10 days | 10 |
| 105 |
The Prior Information Notice (PIN) is an optional additional stage which is normally only required for complex projects where several suppliers may need to collaborate to provide the required solution. You issue a PIN normally one month prior to issuing the second formal Notice to give the suppliers time to negotiate an agreement with the required sub contractors.
Then you publish a Notice which is a short formal notice defining the system/services you require. You also need to prepare a Pre Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) asking suppliers a set of questions.
Respondees are required to submit the completed PQQ within 37 days of the notice being issued.
The procurement office is tasked with reviewing the responses and weeding out incomplete response which do not meet the mandatory requirements.
The project team then reviews the long listed responses and agrees a shortlist of suppliers.
The shortlisted suppliers are sent the full ITT and SOR package and are given 40 days to respond.
When the full tenders come back in the team marks the responses.
You then select the preferred supplier and proceed to contract.
This process is reviewed in more detail in stage seven of the toolkit.
