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The Online Invitation to Quote (ITQ) facility

By OGCbuying.solutions

A comprehensive procurement tool

The increasingly popular Catalist Invitation to Quote (ITQ) facility has gathered momentum since its launch in July 2004 and is now considered an invaluable tool for public sector procurement professionals. It's an online facility enabling customers to further compete and award a contract to suppliers in specific lots within Catalist frameworks. It's also regularly used to simply seek supplier input on how to meet a requirement. In either case the time and resource savings delivered by this feature are hard to beat. Once customers log into the Catalist website they are able to access both the facility and a help sheet for guidance.

Easy management of ITQs on a daily basis

The available functions allow easy management of ITQs on a daily basis. Tedious procurement tasks, which customers would normally undertake manually, such as managing timescales, issuing documents, responding to individual supplier queries by phone or email and market sourcing are all absorbed into this online ITQ facility. Customers can carry out a second round of tendering with selected suppliers through a simple tick-box selection process. Supplier queries are also dealt with anonymously and responses are posted centrally.

Choose the type of ITQ to run and see responses as soon as they arrive

At any given time customers can check which suppliers have viewed or responded to their ITQ. Setting up an Open ITQ allows the customer to read any supplier response as soon as it arrives whereas a sealed ITQ can only be viewed after the closing date specified by the customer. This enables adherence to good procurement practice and has been specifically designed to comply with EC Directive 2004/18 (the Consolidated Directive) as enacted in UK law by the Public Contracts Regulations 2006.

Run several different ITQs at the same time

A customer is able to run one or several different procurements simultaneously through this facility. It should be emphasised that issuing a PQQ is not required whilst using Catalist; the normal activities covered at the PQQ stage have already been carried out by OGCbuying.solutions during the set-up of the framework.

De-selection and notification made easy

When an ITQ is created the suppliers within that contract are automatically selected on behalf of the customer. However, customers still hold the power to de-select suppliers if they have justification for doing so. As soon as an ITQ is issued or further documents added, the facility automatically notifies suppliers and copies-in the customer as back up. Even the task of advising suppliers that they have been successful (or not) is straightforward through the one-click messaging feature.

A well-known problem in Government Procurement...

A lack of adequate work invested in specification-writing and sensible timetabling mean that procurement professionals are frequently left disappointed with a lack of supplier response or unpredicted whole-life costs. It's often seen that badly prepared procurements result in 'fancy' solutions which don't suit end-user requirements. Significantly, the savings through the online ITQ facility enable professionals to re-channel time and resource into the initial stages of their procurement e.g. planning, identifying needs, seeking end-user input and the vital specification. These benefits are not to be underestimated. It's not surprising that the ITQ facility is proving a resource-effective tool for professionals looking to purchase products, manage timescales or to simply approach suppliers.

We say - Always allow adequate response times

Response times are often underestimated when posting ITQs and many customers are left baffled as to why they have had a relatively low response rate from suppliers. Based on the volume of information sought, customers should ensure that these response times are realistic. A guide to this would be allowing 3-4 weeks for a more complex requirement and 5-10 days for a commodity requirement. Too frequently, timescales are neglected or underestimated.

Some suppliers receive a lot of work via our frameworks and therefore please be aware that they may not be willing to bid every time. If you experience any issues with the ITQ system or have any questions or feedback, please contact our Customer Service Desk on 0845 410 2222.

How to find it - change of page?

One way for customers to access the ITQ facility is to register and log onto the Buying Solutions website at www.ogcbuyingsolutions.gov.uk

Customers can create an ITQ by scrolling down the page and clicking on the Invitation to Quote link on the left. This page offers customers guidance on how to use the service, FAQs and the opportunity to view existing ITQs.

Once the customer has selected the 'create new ITQ' option they can then select the deadline for their opened or sealed ITQ and their mandatory message detailing their requirements. After proceeding, customers are then given the option of attaching a document to supplement their requirement. When a customer chooses not to include a specification or other documentation, the system requests confirmation before proceeding (just in case the attachment has been overlooked).

Finally, the customer is able to select the framework agreement by searching alphabetically and all suppliers are automatically selected. Customers then have the choice to deselect suppliers if they feel that they can reasonably justify their decision if required. Customers are then prompted to confirm details of the ITQ and the selection of suppliers before the ITQ is issued.

Overall the ITQ facility keeps the procurement and further competition process simple whilst still ensuring that the customer carries out a rigorous supplier selection. General guidance on the use of frameworks can be found through this link: www.ogc.gov.uk/documents/guide_framework_agreements.pdf

Please email us at itfw@ogcbs.gsi.gov.uk if you have any feedback regarding this article.

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© OGCbuying.solutions 2007

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