ABSTRACT
The word ‘criteria’ as used in the procedures has two different meanings. In the introduction ‘criteria’ is used in the sense of award mechanism. In point (a) ‘criteria’ is used in the sense of ‘a property on which a performance evaluation is based’. This chapter uses the term ‘award criterion’ for the second meaning. Public clients usually use the award mechanism in the award stage where the final bids of suppliers are ordered and the best bid is selected (Figure 13.1). The award phase is part of an encompassing
procurement strategy and usually comes after the selection phase – see OGC2 example of a description for the entire procurement process. Figure 13.2 portrays the lowest price award mechanism, while Figure 13.3 portrays the EMAT award mechanism. The procurement strategy which uses the lowest price award mechanism is known as lowest pricebased procurement; the strategy that uses the EMAT award mechanism is known as value-based procurement. The evaluation technique in the lowest price award mechanism simply consists of rejecting bids that do not comply with the Table of Requirements (ToR) and selecting the cheapest bid. In reality, this rarely occurs, because bids almost never comply entirely with the ToR or other contractual provisions – there is usually some qualification. The EMAT award mechanism takes into account other criteria than price and conformance with requirements. These other criteria are known as award criteria and are used to establish the partial performance of each bid. The evaluation technique combines the performance and price information into a preference ranking. Generally, the evaluation technique uses a mathematical formula.
