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Contracts for Mini-

Competitions and Standalone

Awards

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Table of Contents

Background ...................................................................................................................... 3

Definition of Terms ........................................................................................................... 4

Creating a Contract ........................................................................................................... 5

Contract List page ............................................................................................................................... 5

Contract Form ..................................................................................................................................... 6

Contract Checklist............................................................................................................. 8

Contract Expiry Alerts ......................................................................................................................... 8

CPV Codes ........................................................................................................................................... 8

Contract Add-ons .............................................................................................................................. 11

Attach Documents (non-mandatory) ................................................................................................ 13

Attach Internal Documents (non-mandatory) .................................................................................. 13

Internal Information (non-mandatory) ............................................................................................. 14

Manage Supplier – (Mandatory) ....................................................................................................... 14

Contract Award Letter (non-mandatory) .......................................................................................... 15

Send Contract to Supplier (non-mandatory) .................................................................................... 15

Final Contract – Save as final (Mandatory) ....................................................................................... 16

Working with a contract list ............................................................................................ 17

Publication Tab .............................................................................................................. 17

Bulk Import .................................................................................................................... 18

Assistance with Contract Management Module .............................................................. 20

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Background

The Government launched an initiative in April 2014 to assist Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

(SME) in Public Sector Procurement. The guidance in Circular 10/14 sets out measures that buyers

should take to promote SME involvement in public procurement. One of these measures requires

Public Buyers to publish all award details over €25,000 (ex VAT) on the eTenders website on

completion of the contract signing. This provision came into effect from 1 August 2014. This will apply

to services, supplies, works and works-related services contracts. Where the tender notice is published

and managed entirely within eTenders, please refer to the ‘Quick Buyer Guide’ available on the

eTenders website for completion of the award stage. Click HERE for access to the document.

In situations where the procurement competition was managed outside of eTenders, it was not

possible to enter contract award information as there was no preceding tender notice. The contract

management facility within eTenders now allows contracting authorities enter details for this type of

standalone competition. Refer to section Creating a Contract on page 5. This contract will pre-populate

with default information for the Contracting Authority and Supplier (if they are registered in eTenders)

lessening the data input required. In addition, contracting authorities can capture contract details

relating to mini-competitions from framework agreements owned by another contracting authorities

or central purchasing bodies. Currently, these type of mini-competition are managed entirely outside

of eTenders with the invitation to tender sent directly to the framework members (suppliers). The

contract management facility now allows buyers enter contract award details relating to these mini-

competitions.

The Key Features are:

Contracting Authorities can enter contract details where no previous notice was published on eTenders

Contracting Authorities can enter contract details for mini-competitions where the framework agreement was owned by another Contracting Authority

Captures value and duration of contracts

Allows extension of expiry date

Create email alerting in advance of contract expiry dates

Import from an excel template where multiple lines of information are entered rather than the creation of individual contracts on eTenders

The Office of Government Procurement will report on contract details entered by all public sector Contracting Authorities. A subset of the information entered will be made available publically on the eTenders homepage commencing in January 2016

The contract information for mini-competitions and standalone competitions will be made available

under a new publication tab on the eTenders homepage – called Contract Awards. This publication

area is separate to the notice search on eTenders. Going forward, updates will be provided every

quarter. Contracting Authorities can backdate contract details since August 2014. The information

displayed publically on the summary list will include;

Name of Contracting Authority

Title of Contract

Supplier Name

Total Final Value

Location of Works/Services

Contract Signing Date

Contract Start and Expiry Date

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Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) codes

It will be possible to bulk upload contracts using an import template rather than individually entering

contract details. Please refer to section “Bulk Import” for instructions.

Where the Tender and Contract Management process is fully managed via eTenders (from contract notice, award notice and contract management), authorities should continue to use the current functionality within eTenders. This is the recommended approach where contracts, framework agreements and mini-competitions are managed and owned by a single authority. Please refer to the more detailed manual available on eTenders using the URL link below: http://etenders.gov.ie/Media/Default/SiteContent/UserGuides/CTM_Contract_CA.pdf

Definition of Terms

Circular 10/14

A Government initiative to promote greater involvement of Small and Medium sized Enterprises in

public sector procurement. One specific obligation for public sector bodies included in this circular

10/14 is to publish details for below threshold contracts with a value above €25k.

Standalone contract: a contract where the tendering process was managed outside of the etenders

system.

Mini-competition: call-off competition from a framework agreement. If the framework is owned and

managed by another authority or central purchasing body, other public sector bodies can be named

as clients of that framework and are entitled to request quotes from the framework members.

However, this mini-competition process is managed outside of the eTenders system and contract

details were not captured on the eTenders system.

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

The European Commission’s coding structure for procurement activity.

CTM

Complete Tender Management (CTM) is the term used by the EU Supply Ltd to describe the eTenders

system.

Contract Management Module

This is a contract repository within eTenders.

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Creating a Contract

Access to the contracts module is available under ‘Buyer Services’. Log in using your buyer account

and you will be presented with the homeapge where you can view Contracts under Services on the

left hand pane, see screenshot below.

Contract List page Click on any of the links under ‘Contracts’ this will bring you to the Contracts List page that is divided

into “Active”, “Pending” and “Expired”. Once you can view the contracts list page from there you can

create a contract by selecting ‘Create Contract’ button at the bottom of the screen.

Click below

Contracts

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Contract Form

By selecting ‘Create Contract’, users are presented with a new blank form for completion, see

screenshot below. Please take in completing the data fields. Once save is selected, it will not be

possible to edit at a later stage.

Click here

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There are six mandatory fields that are necessary to complete before final save of the contract.

See table below explaining each field in detail:

Table 1

Field Description Reference (Mandatory)

Internal reference number to the contract. This refers to the Contracting Authorities’ own project or file reference.

Contract Name (Mandatory) This is title of the contract.

Description This field has a maximum of 500 characters to allow user describe the contract in detail for reference purposes.

Workflow type (Mandatory)

Signing outside of CTM (eTenders) – This is the recommended option. All signing of the contract is taking place outside of CTM, the contract details are available within CTM for contract repository purposes. The information and status of the contract can be changed at any time without requiring re-signing of the contract. The supplier(s) will have access to the contract once the buyer has set it as final (Mandatory) Full signing process – The full digital signing process is when both the draft and final contract have to be sent to the supplier for digital signing. Digital Certificates are required. Simplified signing process – The simplified process is still signing of the contract within CTM, but only the first version of the contract have to be sent to the supplier for signing.

Agreement type (Mandatory)

Project

Framework Agreement

Call-Off If Project is selected, only one contract can be created with no options for call-offs. The Call-Off option is used for Mini competition from an existing contract or Framework Agreement. Framework contracts can also be created but no value can be entered if this option is selected. Mini-competitions can then be managed from the framework contract which includes all framework members.

Value (Mandatory) Total value of the contract agreed with the supplier at the end of the contract process.

Start- and expiry date (Mandatory) Start and expiry date of the contract

Payment type There are no values in this field. Please ignore.

Header Comment (associated with the following text box)

Comment Here you can enter any additional comment or description that will be available to the supplier

Allow Change of end date

If a Contracting Authority (CA) has a provision for contract extension(s) in

the contract, the CA should select this option.

Digital Signing

If the contract signing is completed outside of eTenders (recommended

approach), this box should be unticked

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Once the contract has been created the user is redirected to the Contract Checklist.

Contract Checklist

Contract Expiry Alerts This is used for notifying Contracting Authority staff about contract expiration by adding the number

of days before contract expiration and enabling this function. The buyer must have selected ‘Allow

Change of End Date’ on the initial contract page. Example below demonstrates 120 days before expiry,

the user will receive an email contract expiry alert. Sufficient time should be allowed so that a new

tender competition can be commenced and finalised in time.

CPV Codes

Please Notice example

above is greyed out

after being saved

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When the initial form has been created, the user is brought back to checklist, users will have to

complete the CPV codes and a red X will be present until they have selected CPV Codes. If this contract

relates to a mini-competition (call-off) from a framework agreement owned by another contracting

authority or central purchasing body, the buyer must manually enter the CPV codes used in the

framework. Similarly, if this is a contract where no previous notice was published on eTenders, the

buyer must also manually enter CPV codes.

Choose “Add” button as seen in screenshot below.

The user can search through the CPV tree to find the CPV code or use the search facility provided.

Once the CPV Codes have been selected, the user must click on the “Add selected categories” button,

as seen in the screenshot below.

Click here

Click here

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Once CPV Codes have been added and the user selects “Done” the user is brought back to checklist

Once the user has completed the CPV Codes they will see a green tick in the checklist opposite CPV

Codes.

Click here

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Contract Add-ons

Additional features are now available within this area which allows Contracting Authorities capture

more details about the contract and helps meet their obligations under Circular 10/14. Select edit to

setup contract add-ons. The contract add-ons will provide the majority of the new fields. All fields are

mandatory and must be completed. See table below that describes each field in detail.

Click here

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Field Description

Date of Contract signing * This is the date that the contract is signed when works/services are starting. This may differ to the start date of a contract.

Location of Works/Services * The Location the Works/Services will be taking place in.

Framework RFT ID * This eTenders RFT ID is filled in for Mini Competitions or call-off from a framework agreement which was owned and managed by another contracting authority or central purchasing body via the eTenders system. If this contract relates to competition managed entirely outside of eTenders, please enter 6 zero’s “000000”. Only numeric characters can be entered.

Type of Procedure * There are 4 dropdown options for types of procedures “Open”, “Restricted” “Negotiated” and “Competitive Dialogue”.

Type of Contract * There are four dropdown types of contracts “Works”, “Supplies”, “Services”, “Concessions”.

Award Criteria* There are three dropdown options for Lowest Price, Most Economically Advantageous and Other.

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Once completed successfully the user will see a green tick beside contract add-ons, see screenshot

below.

Attach Documents (non-mandatory)

Attach any documents that are relevant to the contract here by clicking on “edit” and upload the

necessary documentation. Documents uploaded will be visible to the supplier who is party to this

contract.

Attach Internal Documents (non-mandatory)

Attach internal documents relevant to the contract in this section by clicking on “edit”. There are two

ways of uploading files, either directly through “Upload Files” or through “Add from shared folder”.

For organisational purposes “Manage Folders” allows you create new folders within your folder

structure. Documents stored here are only visible to the buyer.

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Internal Information (non-mandatory)

Edit the contract internal information not visible to suppliers.

Manage Supplier – (Mandatory) To select suppliers click on “Edit” opposite “Manage supplier” in the checklist. Click on ‘Add’ to search

for a supplier in the eTenders system using the fields provided. It may be necessary to have separate

conversation with the supplier in order to accurately identify their supplier account on the eTenders

system. If the Contracting Authority needs further assistance with the supplier search, they should

contact the eTenders Helpdesk by email at etenders@eu-supply.com or 021-2439277. If the helpdesk

are unable to identify the company on the system, it will be necessary to Pre-register a supplier where

you can add a supplier to the contract and the eTenders system.

Click on “Add” and it will redirect you to search for suppliers, see below screenshot.

Click on “Add”

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Once a supplier has been added successfully click done, the user will be redirected to the checklist

screen and they will see a green tick to signify this has been completed in the checklist, see

screenshot below.

Contract Award Letter (non-mandatory) Configure or select a cover letter that will be displayed to the awarded supplier. This is used when

using the full or simplified digital signing. Where contract signing takes place outside of the eTenders

system, there is no need to complete this cover letter.

Send Contract to Supplier (non-mandatory) This allows Contracting Authorities write and send a message about the contract to the supplier(s).

Once the message is sent the supplier(s) will be able to view the contract. Unless the user completes

all other mandatory add-ons they will not be able to use this functionality they will always see this

message “You have un-answered mandatory add-ons, which must be completed before this step can

be made”. This feature is used with the full or simplified digital signing. Where contract signing takes

place outside of the eTenders system, there is no need to complete this cover letter.

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Final Contract – Save as final (Mandatory) The final step will be finalise the contract and this will only be permissible where all the mandatory

have been completed. Click on “Edit” and “Save as Final”.

Please note if you have unaswered mandatory fields the “Save as final” button will be greyed out

until you have the checklist complete. The warning in the screenshot below is available once you

hover over the greyed out button.

Click here

Warning Message once

you hover over “Save as

Final”

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Working with a contract list

Created contracts can be reached from the Contracts link on the home page or within each Tender.

An excel report can be created from each tab; Active, Pending (not saved as final) and Expired. The

content within the report will be the columns that you have made visible in the online screen. It is the

system administrator within the contracting authority that has access to the system functionality.

Publication Tab The Office of Government Procurement will be extracting all contracts entered by public sector bodies

which are identified as projects and call-off competitions. These will be published under a new

publications tab on the eTenders homepage. Only a subset of the information entered will be made

available publically;

Name of Contracting Authority

Title of Contract

Supplier Name

Total Final Value

Location of Works/Services

Contract Signing Date

Contract Start and Expiry Date

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) codes

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Bulk Import Contracting Authorities can enter contracts valued over €25k which were put in place since August 2014. Where authorities have a large volume of contracts, these can be entered using an import template. The eTenders system provides an option to import a contract master list of ongoing or signed contracts from Excel. Contracts imported can be used as any other contracts within the system. There is an Excel template available for download and this can be created using the following steps;

Click here

Click here

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An excel template will be created with default contract sample details inserted. These details should

be replaced with correct contract details. Columns marked with an * can be left blank. Authorities

should take when entering details for each mandatory field as the import will fail if left blank or

incorrect data is entered.

When the excel template is populated with valid contract details, this should be saved to your local

computer.

Browse to the file location on your computer and then click on import

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If there is an incorrect data entry in any of the mandatory fields, validation errors will be shown to

the user.

These errors must be corrected in the excel document before the import can be completed

successfully.

Assistance with Contract Management Module If you need help completing and finalising the contract form, please contact the eTenders Helpdesk

by email at etenders@eu-supply.com or phone 021-2439277.

Office of Government Procurement.

11th December 2015.