Supplier selection
Selection criteria are concerned with the capability and capacity of an economic operator to deliver the contract. They do not focus on how an economic operator proposes to perform the contract; this is assessed at the award stage.
In the case of health and safety requirements, you will need to satisfy yourself that the contractor you choose can do the job safely and without risk to health. This means making enquiries about the competence of the contractor and ensuring they have the right combination of skills, experience, and knowledge. This is best done at the supplier selection stage.
Any selection criteria deemed appropriate must be tested through the format of the Single Procurement Document (SPD). The SPD consists of a fixed set of questions that allows bidders to self-declare whether they meet the exclusion and selection criteria. Contracting authorities must incorporate statements into their contract notice or prior information notice (PIN) to help with the interpretation of the standardised questions in the SPD. If you are looking for experience of health and safety in the past, then this could be worked into the experience related sections of the SPD (parts 4C 1 and 1.2 ask candidates to provide relevant examples of contracts carried out in the past, “as specified in the Contract Notice”).
We have published the SPD (Scotland) Standard Statements document which is available to download from the Procurement Journey. This document sets out several examples of statements to build into tender documentation specifically on testing bidders’ health and safety credentials. These standard statements relate to question 4D.1 which asks bidders’ to confirm whether they hold independently accredited certificates (to be specified by the buying organisation). Please see these statements for further details.