Public procurement support - The Bourne Identity

Ariaconsult have over twenty years of experience in both public and private sector public procurement. HM Government expects public contracts and expenditure to deliver broader social and economic benefits while demonstrating value for money.

The Procurement Act 2023 enables local authorities, government agencies, and public bodies to move away from traditional relative scoring methods in their tender assessments towards a more strategic procurement approach.

For example, Contracting Authorities procuring highway construction projects must consider the broader social and economic benefits offered by the bidders, such as the number of apprenticeships, industry placements, opportunities for care leavers, and initiatives to support people staying in work in that area. 

The public procurement reforms establish an expectation that contractual performance management frameworks will supervise contractor performance to ensure that suppliers meet their commitments on quality, skills, jobs, and local opportunities.

The Most Advantageous Tender (MAT) system replaces the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) system. MAT is designed to be more adaptable, flexible, and outcome-focused, emphasising long-term value with an emphasis on actual benefits delivered and real contract performance. 

Under the old MEAT regime, the relative tender evaluation focused on the lowest tender price and quality. The problem with an MEAT evaluation is that the procurement process can lead to a contract or service for the contracting authority that has little connection to the original intention once it has been awarded and implemented. 

Under the old MEAT tender evaluation, experienced bidders understood that the lowest tender price usually wins. However, a low tender price can skew the evaluation process, making the procurement procedure vulnerable to aggressive and sometimes unsustainable pricing strategies aimed at outperforming competitors. 

In the public sector, this often leads to an evaluation decision where the submission with the lowest tender price, regardless of quality and value offered, is selected as the winning bidder and awarded the contract. Consequently, the bidder with the highest marks for quality and value, who does not also provide the lowest tender price, will rarely win.

I collaborate with forward-thinking contracting authorities, consultants, and contractors to say farewell to the opaque swamp of Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT); we're adopting the Most Advantageous Tender (MAT) system: adaptable, flexible, outcome-focused, and dedicated to delivering real value and tangible results. MAT and Price Per Quality Point (PPQP) evaluations are more effective because the tender evaluation criteria—such as the Quality Question and Performance Management Framework themes—are integrated from procurement into contract management and administration.

PPQP enables you to evaluate the actual value for money offered by each bidder, rather than merely comparing them to one another. This helps you select the bidder who provides genuine value, based on the appropriate balance of quality and cost tailored to you as the contracting authority. In your case, these targeted quality outcomes include partnership, collaboration, carbon reduction, innovation, and social value.

If you're a contracting authority grappling with how MAT impacts the evaluation and scoring of your tenders or assessment mechanisms, we are here to help you.