Contracts to deliver works or supplies were covered by the procurement rules. Since 1993 this also included services. However some services were, until recently, subject to an opt-out. These included health, education and social care and are referred to as “PART B” services. So procurement officers generally have very little experience of purchasing from providers of these services. The majority of their experience to date has been related to the purchase of roads, computers, street lamps, etc. It is these officers who are taking decisions about tender documentation and scoring.
Importantly they are responsible for the selection stage, or gateway to the full tender award stage. The regulations have been developed for these areas of purchasing, where providers are almost exclusively commercial companies.
More importantly, the scoring which has developed reflects this situation. To bias towards the needs of third sector organisations would have the possibility of excluding companies of various kinds. This would be contrary to the level playing field for competition, which is a obligation under European law. Moreover the Public Accounts Select Committee (PASC) has reviewed third sector commissioning.
