Type of procurement

Procurement
Selecting the right procedure
Type of procurement
Governance Approach

Procurement
Selecting the right procedure
Type of procurement
Governance Approach

This is the procurement tool. The focus of this tool is to help the user identify the most fitting type of procurement for the realization of a mobility hub, if and when procurement is the preferred method.

There are a handful of methods which are predominantly selected in most procedures, and all of them come with their advantages and disadvantages. Some are selected based on preference, while others need to be selected due to legislation.

All public procurement procedures in the EU are carried out on the basis of national rules, or organization specific rules. For higher value contracts, these rules are based on general EU public procurement rules.

1Direct assignment

2Open procedure

3Restricted procedure

4Innovation partnership

5Competitive procedure / Competitive dialogue

Direct assignment

Are there suitable vendors on the market to realise the delivery?(Required)

Yes

Neutral (or not applicable)

The direct assignment presumes a fully thought-out mobility hub with services from the government. In order to give a direct assignment for the realisation of a mobility hub, you will need a vendor that is able to deliver on that assignment.

Do you have clear and transparent criteria to select the right vendor?(Required)

Yes

Neutral (or not applicable)

In order to give a direct assignment to a suitable vendor, you need to determine clear and transparent criteria to be able to judge the vendor's bid.

Have you also analysed potential vendor markets in other countries?(Required)

Neutral (or not applicable)

Yes

The cities' own perspectives and networks are most likely of great influence when a direct assignment is considered. Looking for vendors outside your own network and borders is often overlooked but can result in the best fit.

Are there clear reasons to speed up vendor selection?(Required)

Neutral (or not applicable)

Yes

A direct assignment is a relatively quick way to realise a mobility hub because, unlike with an innovative partnership, there is no need for a long process to determine the contents of the assignment in cooperation with vendors.

Is the purchase/service price below the threshold which, when exceeded, requires the use of the open tender procedure? (The threshold varies depending on the country)(Required)

Yes

Neutral (or not applicable)

This is a check question. Due to the nature of public tendering, there are laws to uphold in case the sum of the assignment is too high. A direct assignment is not in compliance with public tendering rules if for instance the expected contract value is above the threshold of a European tender (example: the threshold for services is € 215,000 excluding VAT for non-central governments)

Have you found only one suitable vendor, but might there be more that you have not identified yet?(Required)

Neutral (or not applicable)

Yes

The possibility of an open procedure instead of a direct assignment might give you more options if you lack a full overview of the possible vendors on the market.

Open procedure

Do you have an objective set of criteria to choose the right vendor?(Required)

Yes

Neutral (or not applicable)

You need clear criteria to differentiate among vendors and decide who fits the assignment the best out of all the submissions.

Do you have enough staff capacity to administrate and carry out the open tender procedure?(Required)

Yes

Neutral (or not applicable)

An open procedure requires enough capacity to facilitate all the necessary legal steps.

Do you have a short timeline for realising the mobility hub and which does not enable an open tender procedure incl. assessment of all the bids, appeal process etc.?(Required)

Yes

Neutral (or not applicable)

Time is an important factor. An open procedure requires going through legal processes and steps which, in the case of a small to medium-sized hub, will result in a minimum lead time of three to four months and, in the case of a larger hub, as much as a year.

Is your request for proposals described in such a way that there are enough potential vendors?(Required)

Yes

Neutral (or not applicable)

An open procedure should result in options to choose from. However, at the same time, an open procedure should also give space to vendors to come up with their own vision for the product they need to deliver.

Restricted procedure

Is a large number of vendors expected to participate in the competition?(Required)

Yes

Neutral (or not applicable)

The restricted procedure should be used for procurement exercises where market analysis has shown that many bidders could meet your needs. If there is an abundance of potential bidders, a pre-selection of vendors would reduce the number of possible vendors that thereafter actually start the tender procedure.

Are there objective reasons for restricting the procedure?(Required)

Yes

Neutral (or not applicable)

Objective reasons for the restrictions can include too many potential bidding parties making the process unmanageable, the need to improve the quality of the bids and the decision for only a limited number of vendors to participate and spend their means on the tendering process.

Are there project-specific selection criteria on the bidder that enable preselection of vendors?(Required)

Yes

Neutral (or not applicable)

Selection criteria assess the qualities and capacities of the bidder, not the bid. The award criteria assess the bid itself. So project-specific selection criteria can help with the preselection of vendors.

Are the requirements complex, with a detailed award evaluation process?(Required)

Yes

Neutral (or not applicable)

This presumes clearly predefined requirements which can be evaluated in detail. If these requirements are not available beforehand, it may be assumed that input from the market is necessary in order to decide what is wanted and needed. The restricted procedure is then not the best fit. This procedure should only be chosen if it is clear what is wanted and needed. If this is not yet the case, an innovative partnership may be a better choice.

Is there a lack of available time to complete the competition procedure?(Required)

Yes

Neutral (or not applicable)

Restricted procedure is time-consuming since it consists of two phases: the pre-selection phase and the tender itself.

Innovation partnership

Is the city ready to accept certain risks stemming from the partnership?(Required)

Yes

Neutral (or not applicable)

Innovation partnerships carry inherent risk because the product, solution or service which will be the result of the partnership is not guaranteed to be a fit to the problem.

Is the city able to come up with a viable business case for the cooperation to interest vendors to participate in an innovation partnership?(Required)

Yes

Neutral (or not applicable)

Business cases are an important prerequisite for innovation partnerships since the initial costs of the innovation need an optimistic perspective for a business case result.

Does the city dispose of skilled staff to participate actively in the innovation partnership ?(Required)

Yes

Neutral (or not applicable)

Innovation partnerships work towards developing as-yet-undiscovered solutions. If there already is a fitting solution to the problem which is central to the procurement, you will want to opt for a direct assignment or a restricted procedure.

Is the plan for the mobility hub in need of an innovative solution which is not available currently on the market?(Required)

Yes

Neutral (or not applicable)

Innovation partnerships require process management and people management, as well as in-field expertise.

Does the city have experience with public-private partnership projects?(Required)

Yes

Neutral (or not applicable)

The process of an innovation partnership is relatively complex. Having previous experience with this type of procurement is valuable for the realization of mobility hubs.

Competitive procedure / Competitive dialogue

Is there a lack of available time for the selection procedure?(Required)

Yes

Neutral (or not applicable)

Competitive procedure can be a significant time investment. In case of limited time, the competitive procedure is usually not a good fit.

Is it difficult to visualise and describe the desired end result of the mobility hub?(Required)

Yes

Neutral (or not applicable)

This procedure allows you to clarify bids with bidders after their submission of fully-formed initial tenders.

You should use this procedure if you are unable to define how to meet your needs technically, and/or you cannot specify the legal or financial requirements of your contract and you need the expertise of vendors to help determine those requirements.

Are there suitable vendors expected to participate in the competition, and is their management time-consuming?(Required)

Yes

Neutral (or not applicable)

When you are unable to define criteria prior to the procurement, the competitive procedure is a good option. The competitive procedure is a process itself which helps to define the actual problem and solution.

Are you able to establish objective criteria (e.g. legal/financial) to determine the winner of the competition (e.g. for the open procedure)?(Required)

Yes

Neutral (or not applicable)

The competitive procedure is a co-creation between vendor and city. The outcome is uncertain, and vendors need to take a risk by allocating their time while not having a guarantee that the process will lead to an assignment for them.