Getting feedback when you lose a tender

The assessment summary

For a contract above the thresholds, the buyer must send an assessment summary to every supplier whose tender was assessed, before it publishes the contract award notice (section 50). What it must contain is set out in regulation 31 of the Procurement Regulations 2024:

• the award criteria and how they were assessed, or a summary giving each criterion, its relative importance, how it was assessed and the scores available;
• your score for each criterion, with an explanation of that score by reference to what was in your tender;
• why the contract is not being awarded to you, including the reasons if your tender was disqualified;
• the same score-by-score information for the winning tender.

Every summary goes out at the same time. They are sent to the suppliers, not published on Find a Tender. For smaller contracts below the thresholds there is no equivalent duty, but nothing stops you asking for feedback, and many buyers give it.

How to read it

1. Find the gaps that cost the most. Multiply the difference between your score and the winner's by each criterion's weighting. One heavily weighted question usually explains most of the gap.
2. Read the explanation against your answer. Put the evaluator's comment next to what you wrote. “Limited evidence” or “did not address” nearly always points at something specific the question asked for.
3. Read what the winner did. The explanation for the winning tender tells you what a high score looked like to this buyer.
4. Check price separately. If you lost on price, the quality feedback matters less than whether the buyer was ever going to pay what you charge.
5. Fix one thing for the next bid. Rewrite the weakest answer while the comments are fresh, and put it in your library.

How to write a tender response that scores explains how the scoring scales and weightings work.

The standstill period

The mandatory standstill period is eight working days, starting on the day the contract award notice is published, and the buyer cannot enter into the contract during it (section 51). It is the time to ask questions about your summary, and to raise a challenge if you believe the procurement went wrong. It does not apply to call-offs from frameworks, contracts awarded through dynamic markets, light touch contracts or some direct awards.

Asking for a debrief

There is no legal right to a debrief meeting. The regulations say a buyer may give any other information it considers appropriate, and the government's guidance on assessment summaries suggests including general feedback that may help a supplier improve future tenders. So ask, politely and soon, with two or three specific questions. A buyer who sees you trying to improve remembers you at the next tender.

Freedom of Information and published contracts

You can ask for the winning bid under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, but expect the valuable parts to be withheld. Information whose release would be likely to prejudice someone's commercial interests can be exempt (section 43), subject to a public interest test, and information given in confidence can be too (section 41). The ICO's guidance notes that sensitivity may reduce once the contract is awarded, and that buyers should consult the supplier before releasing its information.

For contracts worth more than £5 million, the buyer must publish a copy of the contract within 90 days of entering into it (section 53), except for devolved Welsh and transferred Northern Ireland authorities. Sensitive commercial information can be withheld where there is an overriding public interest in doing so (section 94). Award notices themselves are public for every contract: finding out who won explains how to read them.