Tender

External Audit Services

  • Herefordshire Council

UK4: Tender notice - Procurement Act 2023 - view information about notice types

Notice identifier: 2025/S 000-069237

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-05d5e7

Published 29 October 2025, 9:49am



Scope

Description

Hoople Ltd are looking to appoint a single supplier to provide a comprehensive and efficient external audit of the annual accounts to be completed annually, after year end closure of accounts. Within statutory deadlines including an audit opinion for presentation at Hoople Board and preparation of Companies' House corporation tax return.

For full details of the requirements, including specifications, please register an interest in the opportunity to access the full tender pack.

Please note only submissions made via the portal will be accepted.

Total value (estimated)

  • £0 excluding VAT
  • £0 including VAT

Below the relevant threshold

Contract dates (estimated)

  • 1 April 2026 to 1 April 2028
  • Possible extension to 1 April 2029
  • 3 years, 1 day

Description of possible extension:

12 months with 1 extensions available

Main procurement category

Services

CPV classifications

  • 79212000 - Auditing services

Contract locations

  • UKG11 - Herefordshire, County of

Participation

Particular suitability

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)


Submission

Enquiry deadline

17 November 2025, 12:00pm

Tender submission deadline

24 November 2025, 12:00pm

Submission address and any special instructions

Herefordshire Council uses the Procontract e-Tendering system and is linked to the Supplying the Southwest portal at www.supplyingthesouthwest.org.uk. The Southwest portal advertises opportunities published by over 30 local authorities in the southwest.

If you are not already registered on Procontract then you will need to before responding to the tender. Please note we do not accept tender submissions via email.

Tenders may be submitted electronically

Yes


Award criteria

Responses will be evaluated in line with the following scoring systems. The scores generated for each question will be combined to provide an overall score which will determine which organisations will be shortlisted.

There will be different marks awarded to different categories of questions.

Questions 'For Information Only'

The information provided by organisations in response to these questions is information necessary to support a Bidder's application. Your responses in Section 4.2 will be evaluated on a satisfactory or not satisfactory basis. If any of your responses in this section are deemed not satisfactory your quote will be rejected.

Mandatory Questions (Pass/Fail)

This section is mandatory for completion. All questions will be evaluated on a Pass or Fail basis. If you do not confirm compliance with all of the questions within this section, your bid will be deemed as non-compliant and not evaluated further.

All tenders which pass the 'Mandatory Pass/Fail' quality section will be given a score for Quality & Price.

Questions That Are 'Scored'

'Scored' criteria require an assessment to be made concerning how well an organisation meets a particular requirement. There are several such criteria, contained within the following sections.

Scored Criteria & Questions

Weighting (%)

Mandatory Questions Pass/Fail

Cost Element 70%

Quality Element

See below the sub-weightings to this element 30%

Q1 - Operating within regulatory requirements 10%

Q2 - Delivering the service within specified timeframe 5%

Q3 - Undertaking ad-hoc assurance work 5%

Q4 - Appropriately trained and qualified workforce 10%

Scoring

The following example illustrates how Cost and Quality elements in the "Scored Criteria" table will be scored.

Pass/Fail Questions

This section is mandatory for completion. All questions will be evaluated on a Pass or Fail basis. If you do not confirm compliance with all of the questions within this section, your bid will be deemed as non-compliant and not evaluated further.

All tenders which pass the 'Mandatory Pass/Fail' quality section will be given a score for Price and Quality.

Cost Element - The Cost element is 70% of the total score available.

The lowest price received will be awarded the maximum weighted score of 70%.

All other offers will be scored a comparative mark, by calculating the percentage difference between them and the lowest offer received.

(lowest bid / your bid) x 70% = Weighted % scored

Your bid will be calculated as stated in the pricing schedule.

Quality Element - The Quality element is worth 30% of the total score available.

The score will be calculated to reflect the percentage weighting applied to that question (as shown below) and will contribute to the overall Quality Weighting:

your score / maximum score available x question weighting = % score for each question

The Cost score and the Quality score will be added together to provide a Total score. The highest scoring tender will be recommended for acceptance.

Qualitative Questions (Quality Element)

Questions within this section request that you set out your plans for Service provision.

Each question has a maximum number of sides (and font type & size) stipulated within the question: any text in excess of this will not be evaluated. The length of the text will be measured from the start of the space (immediately below the text which reads "Please detail your answer here"), to the last word/diagram of your text response (remember the space will expand to accommodate your answer). Bidders are permitted to insert diagrams, tables or pictures but not embed documents. Any such diagrams, tables or pictures will be included in the side count.

In order to submit a compliant tender you must score a minimum of 2 marks (partial) on each individual question. If this score is not achieved your tender will be deemed as Non-Compliant and will not be considered further.

Quality Questions consist of key points which will each be marked on the scale of 0 - 10 (a mark of 0 being unsatisfactory and 10 being excellent.) using the Marking System as shown in Table 1: Requirements Evaluation Criteria below.

Evaluators will allocate scores based on the following model:-

Table 1: Requirements Evaluation Criteria

SCORE CATEGORY CONTRACT OBJECTIVES / REQUIREMENTS

0 UN-SATISFACTORY Not addressed.

1 POOR Major deficiencies and only minimally addresses requirement.

2 PARTIAL Partial satisfaction of some aspects / deficiencies apparent.

Insufficient linkage requirements.

4 SATISFACTORY Objectives / Requirements are addressed and whilst fully linked to the requirements only basic detail provided.

7 GOOD Response fully addresses and is linked with a good level of clarity to the requirement. Response adds value.

10 EXCELLENT Response fully addresses and is linked with outstanding clarity to the requirement. Response enhances / adds substantial value / may contain innovation.


Procedure

Procedure type

Below threshold - open competition


Documents

Associated tender documents

External Audit Services - Invitation to Quote 2025 - FINAL.doc

ITT for External Audit Services


Contracting authority

Herefordshire Council

  • Public Procurement Organisation Number: PDTG-2978-LHCN

Herefordshire Council, Plough Lane

Hereford

HR4 0LE

United Kingdom

Region: UKG11 - Herefordshire, County of

Organisation type: Public authority - sub-central government