Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
Glasgow City Council
40 John St, City Chambers
Glasgow
G2 1DU
Contact
Fiona Fern
Telephone
+44 1412876442
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
UKM82 - Glasgow City
Internet address(es)
Main address
Buyer's address
https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/Search_AuthProfile.aspx?ID=AA00196
one.2) Information about joint procurement
The contract is awarded by a central purchasing body
one.3) Communication
The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at
www.publictendersscotland.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk
Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address
Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted electronically via
www.publictendersscotland.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk
Electronic communication requires the use of tools and devices that are not generally available. Unrestricted and full direct access to these tools and devices is possible, free of charge, at
www.publictendersscotland.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Regional or local authority
one.5) Main activity
General public services
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
The Provision of a Digital Expert Programme
Reference number
GCC006157CPU
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 72222300 - Information technology services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
The council is inviting suitably qualified and experienced Service Providers to submit bids for the provision of a Digital Expert Programme. The Framework will be ranked with a maximum of 3 Service Providers.
two.1.5) Estimated total value
Value excluding VAT: £440,000
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.2) Description
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 72222300 - Information technology services
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKM82 - Glasgow City
Main site or place of performance
Glasgow
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
The provision of a Digital Expert Programme is aimed at increasing the confidence and desire amongst Glasgow businesses to explore and adopt digital technologies and platforms, productivity and efficiency through 1-2-1 support.
Glasgow City Council’s Economic Development Section within the Chief Executives Department provides access to free business support / impartial advice to start up and existing businesses in Glasgow (Recipient Businesses). The service provided by Business Glasgow who are part of the Economic Development Section, has evolved in response to the prevailing economic conditions and to the needs of local economies and as such provides this Digital Expert Programme.
two.2.5) Award criteria
Quality criterion - Name: Service Methodology / Weighting: 25
Quality criterion - Name: Knowledge of SME's / Weighting: 15
Quality criterion - Name: Knowledge of Inclusive Growth / Weighting: 10
Quality criterion - Name: Understanding of Social Enterprises / Weighting: 10
Quality criterion - Name: Sustainability / Weighting: 5
Quality criterion - Name: Fair Work First / Weighting: 5
Price - Weighting: 30
two.2.6) Estimated value
Value excluding VAT: £440,000
two.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months
48
This contract is subject to renewal
No
two.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted: No
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: No
two.2.13) Information about European Union Funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No
two.2.14) Additional information
Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015
Section three. Legal, economic, financial and technical information
three.1) Conditions for participation
three.1.2) Economic and financial standing
List and brief description of selection criteria
In order to pass the Financial Check section of the contract, it is mandatory for companies to attain the undernoted:-
On receipt of the bids a list of Bidders will be assessed by Finance as follows.
Service Providers must comply with the undernoted financial requirements in order to participate in the tendering process:-
There is a minimum financial requirement that affects trading performance and
balance sheet strength. Financial requirements for trading performance and
balance sheet strength should be calculated on latest filed accounts with Companies
House.
Trading Performance:
An overall positive outcome on EBITDA profits over a 3 year period.
Exceptional items can be excluded from the calculation.
The above would be expressed in the ratio EBITDA/Turnover
Balance Sheet strength:
Net worth of the organisation must be positive at the time of evaluation and
organisation must not be subject to an insolvency process.
Intangibles can be included for purposes of the Total Assets figure.
The above would be expressed in the ratio Total Assets/Total Liabilities
Companies(Service Providers) that are only required to file abbreviated accounts,
must submit full sets of accounts for the last two individual years filed, in order for the three year profitability requirement to be verified.
An applicant(Service Provider should have no outstanding issues, with regard to
statutory filing requirements with Companies House.
Applicants who have been trading for less than the 3 years noted above must
provide evidence that they are complying with the above minimum financial
requirements for the period in which they have been trading.
Applicants who do not comply with the above financial requirements but are part of a
Group, can provide a Parent Guarantee if the Parent company satisfies the financial
requirements stipulated above.
Glasgow City Council reserves the right, at its own discretion, to seek such other
information from the Bidder in accordance with Regulations 61(7) or Regulation 61 (8)
of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 to prove the Service Provider's
economic and financial standing.
Service Providers will be required to provide adequate assurance of financial strength to successfully complete their contractual obligations and have available their two (2) most recent sets of annual audited accounts including profit and loss information.
The Council reserves the right at its own discretion to seek such other information from the Applicant in accordance with Regulation 61(7) or Regulation 61(8) of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 to prove the Applicant’s economic and financial standing.
Applicants who are subsequently appointed to the Framework shall, during the lifetime of the Framework Agreement, inform the Council immediately of any material changes to the information provided in their submission in relation to economic and financial standing. The Council notes Regulation 60(9) and 60(11) of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 and reserves the right to refuse to award a contract following a mini-competition should the Applicant no longer meet the requirements set out in this SPD.
Any Service Provider that fails to achieve or exceed the criteria as stated above will be excluded at this stage.
Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required
Glasgow City Council’s Insurance Requirements are:
Bidder (Service Provider) shall take out and maintain, throughout the period of the contract, Employer’s Liability insurance to the value of at least TEN MILLION POUNDS STERLING (10,000,000 GBP) in respect of any one event and unlimited in the period.
Bidder (Service Provider) shall take out and maintain, throughout the period of the contract, Public Liability insurance to the value of at least FIVE MILLION POUNDS STERLING (5,000,000 GBP) in respect of any one event and unlimited in the period.
Bidder (Service Provider) shall take out and maintain, throughout the period of the contract, Products Liability insurance to the value of at least FIVE MILLION POUNDS STERLING (5,000,000 GBP) in respect of any one event and in the aggregate.
Glasgow City Council also requires that the successful bidder will retain a sufficient level of Professional Indemnity Insurance required to cover any services to be performed within the scope of the contract.
The standard requirement for Glasgow City Council is:
Bidder (Service Provider) shall take out and maintain throughout the period of their services Professional Indemnity insurance to the value of a minimum One MILLION POUNDS STERLING (1,000,000 GBP) in respect of any one event and in the aggregate and to be maintained for 1 year thereafter.
The above insurances shall be with an insurance company registered with Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, or equivalent body for EU member states by the council and any organisation shall not sub-let or sub-contract any part of the commission unless the sub-contractor is similarly insured, unless the council agrees otherwise. It is the express responsibility of the lead organisation to ensure this is the case.
Should the Bidder not have the specified insurances at the time of tendering then, the Bidder must certify in their response to this ITT that the specified insurance will be obtained
three.1.3) Technical and professional ability
List and brief description of selection criteria
List and brief description of selection criteria
Please refer to Document 2 - SPD Experience Question Template-Q4.C.1.2 - Technical & Professional Ability GCC006157CPU of which Bidders MUST answer both questions.
This section has a weighted scored of 100%. Each question/example contained within this section will be given individual scores which total to 100%.
4C.1 SPD Question
Please provide relevant examples of services carried out in the past three years as specified in the Contract Notice. (Examples from both public and/or private sector customers and clients may be provided).
Example 1 50%
Example 2 50%
A minimum pass mark of 60 out of 100 is required overall for this question. Any Bidder who fails to achieve the minimum score for this question will be excluded at this stage.
three.2) Conditions related to the contract
three.2.2) Contract performance conditions
Key Performance Indicators
1.KPI-Timescales-Performance Criteria-Complete delivery of each business support project within a 3-month timescale.
2.KPI-Quarterly Report-Performance Criteria-Submission of Quarterly Report one to project lead.
3.KPI-Number of sessions delivered-Performance Criteria-Number of online/face to face sessions delivered reported to project lead.
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Description
four.1.1) Type of procedure
Open procedure
four.1.3) Information about a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing system
The procurement involves the establishment of a framework agreement
Framework agreement with several operators
Envisaged maximum number of participants to the framework agreement: 3
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes
four.2) Administrative information
four.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
Date
19 June 2025
Local time
12:00pm
four.2.4) Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted
English
four.2.7) Conditions for opening of tenders
Date
19 June 2025
Local time
12:00pm
Place
City Chambers
Section six. Complementary information
six.1) Information about recurrence
This is a recurrent procurement: Yes
Estimated timing for further notices to be published: 20th May 2025
six.2) Information about electronic workflows
Electronic invoicing will be accepted
Electronic payment will be used
six.3) Additional information
Re SPD Questions 4D.1, 4D1.1, 4D1.2, 4D2, 4D2.1 and 4D2.2 bidders must hold the certificates for Quality Control and Environmental Management Standards or comply with all the questions noted in SPD Section 4D.
Freedom of Information Act - Information on the FOI Act is contained in Appendix A of the ITT. Applicants must note the implications of this legislation and ensure that any information they wish the council to consider withholding is specifically indicated on the FOI Certificate contained in the Qualification Envelope within the PCS Tender portal (NB the council does not bind itself to withhold this information). Applicants will be required to complete the FOI certificate (at (ITT stage).
Tenderers Amendments - Applicants must enter any clause, condition, amendment to specification or any other qualification they may wish to make conditional to this offer. Applicants will be required to complete the tenderers amendment certificate contained in the Qualification Envelope within the PCS tender portal (at ITT stage).
Prompt Payment - The successful tenderer shall, as a condition of being awarded the tender, be required to demonstrate to the council's satisfaction that all funds due to the tenderer's permitted sub-contractors in respect of these works are paid timeously and that as a minimum invoices rendered by subcontractors shall (unless formally disputed by the tenderer) be paid within 30 days of receipt. The successful tenderer shall also impose this condition on its subcontractors in respect of payments due to any sub-sub-contractors, if any.
Applicants will be required to complete the prompt payment certificate contained in the Qualification Envelope area within PCS Tender portal.
Non – Collusion - Applicants will be required to complete the Non-Collusion certificate contained in the Qualification Envelope area within the tender portal.
Insurance Mandate - All successful suppliers will be required to sign an Insurance Mandate, which will be issued in conjunction with the award letter authorising the Council to request copies of insurance documents from the supplier’s insurance provider. If the mandate is not signed and returned the Council reserves the right to request copies of insurance certificates from bidders at any point during the contract period.
Terms and Conditions are located within the Buyers Attachments area of the tender portal.
Request for Documentation: Once the Evaluation of Price and Quality has been completed, the recommended Bidder will be expected to provide all documentation as specified in the SPD. When the Request for Documentation is made, Bidders must supply the relevant information within 5 working days. Failure to provide this information within the specified time may result in your bid being rejected and the Council proceeding with the procurement exercise to the next appropriate bidder.
Additional information pertaining to this contract notice is contained within the Invitation To Participate/Tender documents. Applicants must ensure they read in line with this contract notice.
The buyer is using PCS-Tender to conduct this ITT exercise. The Project code is 29229. For more information see: http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/info/InfoCentre.aspx?ID=2343
Community benefits are included in this requirement. For more information see: https://www.gov.scot/policies/public-sector-procurement/community-benefits-in-procurement/
A summary of the expected community benefits has been provided as follows:
The 30 community benefit points must be provided for the
Theme CHN02 - Business Mentoring
(SC Ref:797897)
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
Glasgow Sheriff Court & Justice of the Peace Court
PO BOX 23, 1 Carlton Place
Glasgow
G5 9DA
Country
United Kingdom
six.4.3) Review procedure
Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures
Glasgow City Council (“the Council”) must, by notice in writing as soon as possible after the decision has been made, inform all tenderers and candidates concerned of its decision to award the contract, conclude the framework agreement or establish a dynamic purchasing system. The Council must allow a period of at least the relevant standstill period (where the notice is sent by facsimile or electronic means the period is 10 days ending at midnight at the end of the 10th day after that on which the last notice is sent, when sent by other means the period is 15 days) to elapse between the date of despatch of the notice referred to in Regulation 85(1) of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 (“the Regulations”). The Council is obliged to comply with the Regulations and any eligible economic operator can bring an action in the Sheriff Court or the Court of Session where as a consequence of a breach by the Council, suffers or risks suffering loss or damage. The bringing of court proceedings during the standstill period means that the Council must not enter into the contract, conclude the framework agreement or establish the dynamic purchasing system unless the proceedings are determined, discontinued or disposed of; or the court, by interim order, brings to an end the prohibition. The bringing of court proceedings after the standstill period has elapsed and the remedies that are available to the courts are detailed in the Regulations. Economic Operators can write to the Council seeking further clarification on the notice, to which the Council must respond within 15 days. Economic Operators should be mindful to seek their own independent legal advice when they consider appropriate to do so.