Tenders
Tendering and awarding according to the rules of the game.
The tendering of a work, service or supply often involves relatively large contracts with major financial interests at stake for both the contracting authority and the bidders. In order to ensure that a tender is conducted in accordance with the principles of equality, transparency and proportionality, procurement procedures must comply with a forest of laws, rules and directives. This makes procurement law an interesting but complex area of law that requires very specific knowledge.
The lawyers of the Procurement team have this specific knowledge like no other. They have therefore gained years of experience in the field of procurement law, both on the side of contracting authorities and on that of tenderers. Their expertise is therefore – as you would expect from De Clercq – versatile and of the highest level.
If you are preparing a tender procedure on behalf of a contracting authority, you will naturally want to do that as carefully as possible. A lawyer from the public procurement team can be of excellent assistance. Are you using the correct selection criteria to assess which party is best able to perform the contract? Are your selection criteria permitted and proportionate? Do you know which award criteria you can best use when assessing tenders? And is your tender procedure sufficiently transparent and verifiable? With good advice beforehand and good supervision during the tendering procedure, you can avoid discussions, complaints and procedures.
But our expertise can also be very valuable if you participate in a tender procedure as a bidder. After all, tenders require a great deal of preparation, consultation and calculation on your part. We can check for you in advance whether the tender procedure meets all the guidelines. We can also advise you on your tender, so that you can be sure that it meets the requirements set by the contracting authority. Do you believe that you have been wrongly denied a contract? Then we can check for you whether the procedure was carried out in accordance with the rules and – should this not be the case – defend your interests up to the courts.
Focus Areas
- Drafting and reviewing tender documents;
- Advise on and monitor selection and award criteria;
- Evaluate bids in accordance with specifications and conditions of the procurer;
- Monitor the procurement process and review the award;
- Provide assistance in filing complaints and in legal proceedings, from summary proceedings to proceedings on the merits.
Our approach
Our working method is fast, decisive and purposeful. We are available 24/7 and, if necessary, we will leave no stone unturned to look after your interests. As a team we advise both tenderers and bidders. As a result, we know the pitfalls and obstacles of both parties inside out and can offer you the best possible service. Of course, not every tender proceeds smoothly. The lawyers in our team regularly litigate in the interests of our clients.
In order to share our specialist knowledge, we regularly publish in journals and magazines and contribute to the Reed Business information knowledge bank on purchasing and tendering. We are also constantly expanding our knowledge ourselves, for example by taking postgraduate courses in the field of procurement law. Finally, our lawyers are members of the Dutch Association for Procurement Law (NVvA). More important, however, is our experience, about which you can read more on the personal pages (link to declercq.com/about-us/our-people) of our lawyers.
