Evaluation criteria (Direction and Instruction 3.7)

Evaluation criteria (Direction 3.7)

Effective date: 1 July 2018

Principles

Value for money, scalability and probity are procurement principles that are specifically relevant to tender preparation and processes.

Of particular relevance to this Direction are the following construction procurement principles:

• appropriately planning and managing Public Construction Procurement to deliver procurement objectives
• employing the appropriate Procurement Models and processes taking account of the complexity and value of the project and supplier market capability
• reducing unnecessary burden of Public Construction Procurement for all parties
• encouraging appropriate innovation and responsiveness in the supplier market
• ensuring appropriate competition and contestability when undertaking Public Construction Procurement
• conducting Public Construction Procurement processes in an efficient and timely manner
• treating all tender participants fairly and equally
• undertaking Public Construction Procurement in accordance with the relevant legislation, policy, guidance and any mandatory requirements in these Directions.

3.7 Evaluation criteria

3.7.1 Evaluation plan

(a) Agencies must consider how responses for the relevant stage of the tender process will be evaluated before to releasing Tender Documentation to the market to ensure the information requested and the evaluation plan are aligned.

(b) Agencies must ensure the evaluation plan is:

(i) substantively complete before the release of Tender Documentation

(ii) finalised before the tender closing date.

3.7.2 Disclosure of evaluation criteria

(a) Evaluation criteria must be disclosed in the Tender Documentation.

(b) Any mandatory criteria must be indicated in the Tender Documentation.

3.7.3 Mandatory evaluation criteria

Agencies must ensure that any supplier engaged to perform Works or Construction Services satisfies the mandatory evaluation criteria as required by the Instructions prior to entering into the engagement.

3.7.4 Determining evaluation criteria

Evaluation criteria should be linked to the project’s objectives to enable the Agency to evaluate which tender represents the best value for money. Agencies must select evaluation criteria, as part of preparing the evaluation plan, before releasing Tender Documentation to the market.

Evaluation criteria (Instruction 3.7)

Effective date: 30 December 2018

Objective: To define the requirements of advising the market of evaluation criteria for the tender and help agencies in establishing criteria.

3.7.1 Evaluation plan

The evaluation plan must set out the:

(a) tender evaluation criteria, including identifying of any mandatory criteria

(b) relative importance and associated weightings of the evaluation criteria

(c) evaluation methodology and how each criteria will be evaluated

(d) tender evaluation process, including:

(i) who will assess the tenders

(ii) resourcing, such as technical experts required to assess certain criteria

(iii) which evaluation committee members will have access to what information

(iv) how each evaluation criteria will be assessed and scored.

3.7.2 Disclosure of evaluation criteria

In addition to disclosing the evaluation criteria in the Tender Documentation and indicating any mandatory evaluation criteria, Agencies may, but are not required to provide tender participants with:

(a) guidance about the evaluation criteria for the purpose of encouraging responsive tenders; and

(b) an indication of the relative importance or weighting of the evaluation criteria in Tender Documentation.

3.7.3 Mandatory evaluation criteria

Evaluation criteria used by Agencies must include the following mandatory evaluation criteria:

(a) value for money, which must be the primary determinant of the procurement outcome, after taking into account all of the individual evaluation criteria including price

(b) the occupational health and safety management criteria set out in Attachment 1 to this Instruction 3.7, where:

(i) in the case of Works, the value of the Works exceeds $750,000 (inclusive of GST)

(ii) in the case of Construction Services, the value of the Construction Services exceeds $300,000 (inclusive of GST)

(c) the industrial relations management criteria set out in Attachment 2 to this Instruction 3.7, where:

(i) in the case of Works, the value of the Works (or Works component) exceeds $750,000 (inclusive of GST);

(ii) in the case of Construction Services, when the Fair Jobs Code applies

(d) appropriate criteria to enable consideration of each tender participant's past performance in delivering Works or Construction Services whether for Agencies within the Victorian Government, other governments or non-government organisations.

In the case of the mandatory criteria referred to in paragraphs (b) and (c), Agencies must ensure that a tender participant satisfies the criteria before awarding a contract to perform Works or Construction Services.

Where a tender participant has already been assessed against the mandatory criteria as part of a prequalification process, whether as part of qualification or requalification to a Register, becoming a member of a Supplier Panel or through an expression of interest process, then the Agency does not need to reassess the tender participant against the criteria provided they confirm, prior to contract award, that:

(a) in the case of a tender participant prequalified on a Register or a member of a Supplier Panel, the tender participant remains on that Register or Supplier Panel

(b) in all cases, there has been no material change to the information submitted to satisfy the criteria (whether at the time of prequalification or requalification, or during the expression of interest process) whether positive or negative, that would affect the tender participant's ability to satisfy the criteria.

3.7.5 Approved assurance systems

The Secretary may approve assurance systems that may be cited by suppliers of Works or Construction Services as evidence of complying with the mandatory evaluation criteria listed in Instruction 3.7.3 (b) and (c).

Approved assurance systems may be cited by suppliers of Works or Construction Services as evidence of complying with the mandatory evaluation criteria listed in Instruction 3.7.3 (b) and (c).

For the occupational health and safety management criteria set out in Attachment 1 to Instruction 3.7, the approved assurance systems are:

(a) ‘SafetyMap’

(b) AS 4801 2001: OHS Management Systems

(c) Civil Contractors Federation Management Code

(d) Australian Government Building and Construction WHS Accreditation Scheme

(e) ISO 45001 2018 Occupational health and safety management systems.

Note that assessment using the above approved assurance systems will address the mandatory occupational health and safety management criteria numbered 1 – 10 for suppliers of Works or Construction Services set out in Attachment 1 to Instruction 3.7, but current information will always be required regarding the criteria numbered 11 and 12 set out in Attachment 1 to Instruction 3.7.

Tools and support

The Practitioners Toolkit includes key documents, guidance and information relating to the Ministerial Directions and Instructions.

For further information about the Ministerial Directions and Instruction for public construction procurement, please contact the Construction Policy Team.