Page 117 - Procurement guidelines for smart sustainable cities - A U4SSC deliverable

These options can avoid public officials and stakeholders having to run a new procurement process.
However, they need careful consideration to ensure that:
Table 14: Dos and don’ts-Use digital buying tools
• public officials and stakeholders have the expertise and capabilities to deliver a solution;
Do Don’t
• they will get better value for money by building a product or service in-house;
use digital buying tools to enable faster do not choose digital tools that require
• contract changes are permitted and cover the same scope of the original contract; and
procurement and attract a broader range of you to be “locked in” to use a certain provider
• the product or service can be bought “off the shelf” and does not need to be tailored to their
suppliers
over a long period
needs.
make sure any digital tools you choose
can be shared easily
If the answer to any of these questions is no, then public officials and stakeholders will need to
choose from the following procurement procedures:
inform suppliers about any new digital
• open procedures, where any supplier can bid for the work;
tools you would like them to use
• restricted procedures, in which only certain suppliers can bid; for example, those with specific
Table 15: Dos and don’ts-Simplify contracts
skills or experience;

Don’t
Do
• negotiated or “competitive dialogue” procedures, which allow them to negotiate requirements
with suppliers before inviting them to bid; do not use negative or controlling
use plain language and avoid legal

jargon; if you have to use legal wording explain language; this is likely to discourage smaller
• direct-award procedures, in which contracts are awarded direct to one supplier, without
what it means suppliers from working with government
competition, generally used only in defence or emergency contexts.
use framework agreements to allow
do not use language that is biased

Of these options the “open” procedure should be considered the default choice as it maximizes
faster contracting
transparency and competition. towards a particular gender or group
publish contracts online so that they are
Dos and don'ts
accessible to the public
Table 16: Dos and don’ts-Choose an approach
Table 16: Dos and don’ts-Choose an approach

Do Don’t
consider whether a procurement do not use the direct award process
process is the best way to achieve your needs except for emergency or security-related
buying
combine with other departments to
buy commonly bought products or services at
a better price

use open procurement procedures to
maximize transparency and competition

4.2 Informing the market

Share what public officials and stakeholders need with the market, encouraging open competition.

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