Hertfordshire County Council (the ‘Council’) invites applications from suitably experienced and competent organisations who wish to pre-qualify onto its Dynamic Purchasing System (‘DPS’) for the Supply of Laminating Pouches.

Organisations wishing to take part in this project are invited to ‘express interest’ which will give access to the full tender documentation in the e-tendering system. Please see V1.3 Additional information for further information.

Any questions relating to this procurement must be made via the correspondence area in the e-Tendering system, in accordance with the procurement documents and can be addressed to the main contact as shown in the details above.

Hertfordshire County Council (the ‘Council’) invites applications from suitably experienced and competent organisations who wish to pre-qualify onto its Dynamic Purchasing System (‘DPS’) for the Supply of Laminating Pouches.

The DPS is a 2 stage process and will be conducted in accordance with Regulation 34 of The Public Contracts Regulations 2015. Firstly, organisations apply by completing the Council's online selection questionnaire (‘SQ’). Organisations which satisfy the pre-determined selection requirements set out in the SQ will then be admitted to the DPS. Individual orders throughout the duration of the DPS will be awarded via competition during the second stage. Organisations admitted to the DPS should note that they won't be invited to tender for competition(s) until they have signed and returned the DPS Agreement to the Council accordingly.

The pattern and volume of demand for Laminating Pouches may be subject to change and it is stressed that there are no undertakings concerning likely volume of demand. For the avoidance of doubt, each organisation admitted to the DPS acknowledges that, no form of exclusivity or volume guarantee is guaranteed by the Council or the Participating Authorities for the Laminating Pouches and that the Council is at all times entitled to enter into other contracts and arrangements with other organisations for the provision of any or all warehouse packaging which are the same or similar. Please note the Council is under no obligation to run a set number of competitions during the validity of the DPS.

For guidance only, an estimated annual quantity (where known) is given in the Specification of the procurement documents. The Council does not undertake to purchase that quantity and equally the successful organisations should be prepared to supply quantities in excess of the figures shown.

The anticipated annual expenditure, for the Council on Laminating Pouches is presently circa 244 000 GBP per annum. The estimated annual range is between 150 000 GBP to 350 000 GBP.

An essential ingredient of the successful working arrangements for each individual order will be regular dialogue between the parties to ensure the smooth running and achievement of the objectives specified for each order respectively.

The DPS will commence on the 1.12.2017 and will be for a core period of 2 years with the option for extensions up to a total further period of 2 years on an annual basis.

For the avoidance of doubt, the estimated value stated in Section II.2.1 of this contract notice is an approximate value for the core period of 2 years and includes the approximate value for extension(s) of a further period of up to 2 years on an annual basis.

The date stated for requests to participate in Section IV.3.4 of this contract notice is the earliest date when the Council can begin to evaluate applications and admit organisations to the DPS. Please note that organisations can apply to join the Council's DPS at any time during its validity if they satisfy the selection criteria and none of the grounds for exclusion apply. So, whilst it is open to any organisation to apply to join the DPS after the date stated in in Section IV.3.4, those organisations who wish to participate in the earliest competitions will be required to submit their online SQ no later than the date stated for requests to participate.

If an organisation admitted to the DPS ceases to satisfy the Council's selection requirements it is likely that it may be excluded or suspended from taking part in any competition. If an admitted organisation fails one of the grounds for exclusion during the validity of the DPS the Council may be required to remove the supplier from the DPS.