Eligibility and selection in public procurement—selection criteria

Produced in partnership with Louise Huson of DLA Piper

The following Public Law practice note Produced in partnership with Louise Huson of DLA Piper provides comprehensive and up to date legal information covering:

Eligibility and selection in public procurement—selection criteria
Brexit impact—public procurement
Eligibility and selection
Key documents
Requirements for participation
Means of proof
Capacity of other entities
Reducing the number of qualified bidders
Right to request clarification for incomplete, erroneous and/or missing information
Checklist

A contracting authority cannot award a public contract regulated by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015), SI 2015/102, without following a public procurement process, which incorporates two distinct stages:

•
qualification and selection of tenderers, and
•
evaluation of tenders, submitted by shortlisted tenderers

This is the second of two Practice Notes examining the first stage of this process. The first Practice Note looks at mandatory and discretionary exclusion of tenderers from the procurement process, on the basis of criminal convictions, or as a result of circumstances which question their professional honesty, solvency and reliability. See Practice Note: Eligibility and selection in public procurement—exclusion criteria.

This Practice Note looks at how to further down‑select tenderers by evaluating their economic strength and technical/professional ability, concluding with a checklist of the key considerations for assessing eligibility.

Brexit impact—public procurement

The UK public procurement regime derives from EU law, and is therefore impacted by the UK’s withdrawal from the EU (subject to the relevant transitional arrangements). For general updates, see: Brexit timeline. For further reading on the impact of Brexit on public procurement, see Practice Note: Brexit—the implications for public procurement.