Procurement at the Combined Authority

Categories of goods, services West Yorkshire Combined Authority purchase

The CA procures a multitude of goods/services/works across many categories, the largest of which are:

• Built Environment
• Transport Services
• Professional Services
• Technology

In the interest of fairness and transparency, the following is published on the ‘What We Spend and How We Spend it’ page on a quarterly basis: 

• Tenders invited
• Contracts Register

By carefully examining these documents, suppliers are able to identify opportunities which have been tendered recently, and whether there may be any future opportunities that could be of interest.  

Business Opportunities

The CA constantly seek to attract high-quality suppliers of all classifications and/or sizes.

CA tenders go through the e-procurement system ‘YorTender’. To express interest in any forthcoming opportunities, please register using the below link. This provides access to all open live tenders for the CA. In addition, some opportunities will be advertised on Contracts Finder and Find a Tender Service (FTS).

To register, complete the form. Once completed click the blue “Save” button to complete your registration.

Registration is free and once the correctly complete form has been saved the system will automatically give you access to the CA’s and regional opportunities.

Further instructions on how to register as a new supplier on Yortender.

When a tender becomes available, you will either get an email notification if directly invited containing a link straight to the opportunity or if the tender is run under an open process once logged in from the home screen select “CTM Published Tenders”. In the filtering options at the top change “Local” to “All” then select the blue “More Options” button. Change “All Buyers” to West Yorkshire Combined Authority. This will then show all the live opportunities the Authority has.

System user guide.

View our current pipeline of opportunities.

For any further assistance or queries, please contact the Commercial Team at CommercialTeam@westyorks-ca.gov.uk

The different procurement procedures used

The Combined Authority typically uses the following procurement procedures which are informed by the Public Contract Regulations (PCR’s) when obtaining goods, services and works.

• Open Tender – This process allows any organisation to express an interest, request tender documents and submit a return.
• Restricted Tender – This process is a two-stage process which allows any organisation to express an interest. However, this differs from an Open Tender in that all suppliers must go through a mandatory pre-qualification phase where the suitability and capability of suppliers is assessed. Once concluded, the most suitable and/or capable suppliers are invited to tender for the contract in a subsequent phase.
• Selective Tender – This process allows only pre-selected suppliers to express an interest and submit a return. Typically, this process will only be used for relatively low-value procurements that fall below the Find a Tender procurement thresholds.
• Request to Quote – In a similar vein to a Selective Tender, this process only allows pre-selected suppliers to express an interest and submit a return. Request to Quote (RTQ) documents are issued in place of Invitation To Tender (ITT) documents.

The Combined Authority’s Procurement Strategy

In order to meet and deliver the future challenges faced by the Combined Authority, the organisation needs to be able to rely upon procurement resource; operating and delivering cutting edge procurement through best practice procurement processes.

Procurement will deliver value for money by maximising the benefits achieved for every pound spent by the Combined Authority and influencing value for money delivery for all the Combined Authority’s programmes.

It should be clear that benefits include benefits to society as well as financial and non-financial benefits to the Combined Authority. It is the application of procurement best practices such as category management and contract management that enable the delivery of value for money and are therefore the building blocks of our procurement strategy.

Read our strategy document.

Tender assessments by the Combined Authority

The CA aims to achieve the best possible outcome(s), through competitive tendering procedures which drive value for money. Resultantly, tenders are assessed based on the principles of MAT (Most Advantageous Tender); this ensures that both quality and price are taken into account. Quality and price elements are assessed separately, and scores are then combined in accordance with the assessment methodology outlined within the tender documents. Details on weightings and scoring mechanisms can be found within the Invitation To Tender (ITT) / Request to Quote (RTQ) documents for each individual project; these will be available on our e-tendering portal.