Step 1

Find and review the tender advertisement

Woollahra Council publishes all tenders in the local government section of Tuesday's Sydney Morning Herald and one other local publication.

Step 2

Obtain a copy of the tender

Copies of all tender documents are available as specified in the advertisement.

For interstate tenderers and those outside of the Sydney metropolitan area, a tender can be obtained by contacting the relevant Council contact (as stated in the tender advertisement) for further information. Generally, tender documents can be downloaded from Council’s website at no cost. If you require a hard copy to be printed by Council there will be a charge for this.

Step 3

Decide whether or not you are suitable for the project

Read the tender document very carefully and familiarise yourself with the conditions of tendering, the advertised selection criteria, the specifications, and the conditions of contract, especially the clauses dealing with delivery and price variations, before deciding whether you are suitable or not.

Step 4

Understanding the contract and conditions of tender

If you are unsure about Council’s proposed contract, either discuss it with the contact officer nominated in the tender advertisement or have the tender reviewed by your legal representative.

Step 5

Completing your tender forms

Ensure you have filled out all the necessary fields from the document, answered each of the criteria and supplied the required number of copies of your submission. You are then ready to lodge your tender documents.

Council records are generally open to the public. However, tenders received are treated in confidence during the evaluation and reporting stages (see Steps 9 to 10), and subsequently retained on Council’s Tender File. They may at some time be the subject of a Freedom of Information application to inspect.

Tenderers who require any information provided with a tender to be kept permanently confidential should advise this in writing and give reasons, e.g. to protect a commercial interest or intellectual property.

Step 6

Tender period

Council will offer the same tender documents to all those who respond to an invitation to tender.

The tender period is usually three weeks. During the tender period, you may wish to seek further information or clarification from the contact officer. If advice, verbal or in writing, is given to a respondent clarifying the meaning of the tender documentation, the same information will be issued to all other respondents. Council will maintain a written record of all advice given.

Council may invite prospective tenderers to a pre-tender meeting to provide further information and to respond to questions raised. The minutes of this meeting will be distributed to those who attend the meeting, or who have registered their interest with Council.

Step 7

Lodging your tender documents

Tenders must be placed in the tender box located on the Ground Floor, Customer Service Counter, 536 New South Head Road, DOUBLE BAY NSW 2028, no later than the closing time on the closing date. Late submissions cannot be accepted.

What Happens Next?

Step 8

Opening of tenders

Council’s tender opening panel will open all tenders received by the due date and time, in Council’s Customer Service public area. The panel will list the tenders received in alphabetical order, and the list will be displayed in the Customer Service area.

Step 9

Evaluation of tenders

Every submission will be reviewed by a tender evaluation panel. While other criteria may be used which are more specific to each tender, the following are examples of commonly used criteria in an assessment:

• operational capability
• technical and methodological assessment
• financial capacity to undertake tender
• occupational health and safety assessment
• environmental considerations
• quality
• price.

The tender evaluation panel will examine all tenders for compliance with the conditions of tendering, including completion of all the relevant tender forms. Each tender submission is read in detail and its strengths and weaknesses are assessed and recorded. The submissions are then scored against the advertised criteria, and ranked.

Step 9A (optional)

Post-tender interviews

The tender evaluation panel may invite you to a post tender interview to seek further details of your capability to carry out the works. Following the interview the panel may review the scores and ranking of tenderers.

Step 10

Recommendation to Council

The panel will prepare a report to Council’s Corporate and Works Committee with a recommendation either to accept no tenders, with reasons given, or to enter into a contract with one tenderer. The Committee’s resolution will then go as a recommendation to full Council the following week.

You will be advised in writing if your tender was unsuccessful.

If your tender is successful you will be advised in writing and contract documentation will be completed.