Procurement Process
Stage 4: Contract
Content Last updated: 15/11/2019
Stage 4 of 5

Contracting the supplier

The organ of state and the service provider/supplier will sign a contract which sets out the supplier’s obligations to perform, and the government's obligations to pay.

4.1 - Overview
4.2 - Key procurement contract facts

4.1 - Overview

The organ of state and the service provider/supplier will sign a contract which sets out the supplier’s obligations to perform, and the government's obligations to pay. 

Once there has been a tender award, the legal obligations which flow from the tender award are captured in a contract. The contract will set out the very specific terms of the relationship between the parties. 

Useful Example

If a supplier has won a tender to build, operate and maintain a government hospital, there will need to be very clear obligations on exactly when it will need to start designing, handover between designers and builders, the method and frequency of your maintenance obligations etc. The contract contains all the nitty gritty that is not fleshed out in the tender process.

4.2 - Key procurement contract facts

  • Contracts will contain a very specific description of the service provider’s obligations to perform, and the public entity’s obligations to pay.
  • Sometimes this contract is known as a Service Level Agreement - SLA. 
  • Service Level Agreements set out measurable service levels which service providers must meet.
  • Once the contract is signed, the contractor’s information, company name, directors, and points scored will be published on the eTenders portal. 

System Weaknesses

  • No record is published of the negotiations which take place in order to translate a tender award into a contract. This makes it impossible to monitor whether these negotiations have changed the initial specifications of the tender. 
  • Contracts concluded in Stage 4 are generally not publicly available. This makes it impossible to monitor whether the terms on which a tender was awarded are actually concretised into a legally binding contract. 
  • It is essential (if not a completely guaranteed solution), at this stage,  as well as at the BSC, BEC and BAC stages, that potential conflict of interest declarations are lodged, inspected and, if necessary, participants are required to recuse themselves from participation. The Public Service Ethics Regulations requiring this are poorly enforced in practice.

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