Tendering & Contracting Resources

The Tendering & Contracting Departments within the CIF regularly deal with queries from members on a wide variety of issues they are facing concerning prequalification and tendering.

Often times, members know that what they are being asked to provide is incorrect, but they do not wish to draw attention to their company by raising the matter directly.

In circumstances where a client or contracting authority is acting outside either the Liaison Committee Code of Practice, the guidance notes issued by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, or the EU Procurement Directives, the CIF will contact the client/contracting authority confidentially on behalf of the member to raise the matter. This applies in respect of each of the areas outlined in the remainder of this document.

Occasionally circumstances arise where members are of the view that a requirement of the competition, although not directly in breach, is simply too onerous for the project in question or that the project is too complex for the time allowed. In these circumstances, the CIF may contact the contracting authority or architect on a confidential basis to request a change, where such a request has been received from a number of member companies.

Members can rest assured that the identity of their company will never be revealed as the party who raised the issue.

The queries encountered most often by the Tendering & Contracting team are set out here in a directory of queries for information.