South Tyneside Council is seeking to award a single supplier framework agreement, open to all public sector bodies in the UK, for early payment provision, offered on a modular basis applicable either to public sector bodies without an existing programme, wishing both to implement and operate and public sector bodies with an existing programme, wishing to continue to operate such a programme.

South Tyneside Council operates an Early Payment Scheme (EPS), whereby discounts are taken from invoices in exchange for early payment. The fee for early payment is a % discount offered against the gross invoice value for payment in advance of the standard 30 days.

The discount is calculated dynamically and is proportionate to how many days the payment is accelerated (number of days between invoice receipt and invoice payment sent). The discount is only taken if payment acceleration is achieved.

The purpose of such a programme is not only to generate new income for the council but also to help suppliers by injecting much needed liquidity into the councils supply chain and in particular the local economy. The programme has also helped to streamline existing Purchase to Pay (P2P) processes and maximise efficiency within the Council, while supporting the council’s compliance with payments legislation and its adoption of best practice.

The aim of this project is to award a single supplier framework agreement to all NEPO member authorities and associates for an early payment scheme, offered on a modular basis applicable either to authorities without an existing scheme wishing to both implement and operate the scheme or authorities who wish to continue to operate a scheme such as South Tyneside.

A 2-stage open procedure will be used for the procurement of this framework agreement. The first stage will consist of the selection process where the authority will focus on the tenderers’ characteristics and suitability in principle to provide the contract requirements. Submissions will initially be assessed in respect of the SQ responses. Subject to passing the SQ assessment, the tender submissions will be evaluated. Failure of any of the pass/fail sections will result in the failure of the SQ submission and evaluation of the tender will not occur. All tenderers who pass the selection stage will be eligible to have their submissions assessed at the award stage. The award stage considers the merits of the eligible tenders in order to assess which tenderers can be appointed to the framework. The authority only uses a criterion that is linked to the subject matter of the framework.

The framework will be for 48 months with a possible 2 x 24 month extension.