CONFIDENTIAL
Inter Regional Agreement for the Supply of Periodicals
Buyer’s Guide v1
(Effective July 2011)
Period of Agreement: 1 August 2011 to 31 July 2015
Contract Manager: Susan Wright, Head of SUPC.
Email s.wright@reading.ac.uk or Tel 0118 935 7081
CONTENTS
Page
1. Scope of Agreement ............................................................................................... 1
2. Prices ..................................................................................................................... 1
3. Additional Costs...................................................................................................... 2
4. Additional Rebates ................................................................................................. 3
5. Cost Plus Option ..................................................................................................... 3
6. Consolidation Service, Assistance with Transferring Subscriptions, Resource
Discovery Tools and Any Other Discounts ................................................................ 4
7. Contact Details for Each Supplier............................................................................. 4
8. Tender Evaluation Scores ........................................................................................ 4
9. Guidance Notes on Choosing Suppliers .................................................................... 5
Appendix A: Supplier Price Schedules .......................................................................... 7
Appendix B: ENP Guidance........................................................................................... 28
Inter Regional Agreement for the Supply of Periodicals
Buyer’s Guide v1
(Effective July 2011)
Period of Agreement: 1 August 2011 to 31 July 2015
1.
Scope of Agreement
The Agreement has been tendered by SUPC on behalf of SUPC and HEPCW in
accordance with the European Procurement Directives. Institutions should place
their orders with suppliers in accordance with these directives (this is explained
further in the final section of these guidance notes on choosing your suppliers). The
Agreement can be extended to cover the other university purchasing consortia in the
UK should they wish to use this Agreement.
This Framework Agreement is for the Supply of Periodicals and covers electronic and
print journals, internet databases and CD Roms. Suppliers also offer consolidation
services.
The Agreement has been awarded to three suppliers:



2.
EBSCO Information Services
LM Information Delivery
Swets Information Services
Prices
Prices are based on a discount or handling charge from the publishers list price.
Some suppliers have offered the same terms to all institutions whereas others have
variable discounts/handling charges dependent on the institution’s periodical spend
and the overall consortium spend. Some suppliers also offer a cost plus pricing
model.
Below is a summary of the prices for each supplier. These tables should be read in
conjunction with the additional costs section (3) and rebate section (4).
Print Journals
Institution Annual Expenditure
EBSCO
LM
Swets
£1 - £74,999
+1%
-2.7%
-0.25%
£75,000 to £249,999
-0.0%
-2.7%
-0.25%
£250,000 to £499,999
-0.3%
-2.7%
-0.25%
£500,000 and above
-0.7%
-2.7%
-0.25%
£250,000 to £
1
Electronic Journals
Institution Annual Expenditure
EBSCO
LM
Swets
£1 - £74,999
+1%
-3.1%
-0.25%
£75,000 to £249,999
-0.0%
-3.1%
-0.25%
£250,000 to £499,999
-0.3%
-3.1%
-0.25%
£500,000 and above
-0.7%
-3.1%
-0.25%
EBSCO
LM
Swets
£1 - £74,999
+1%
-2.7%
-0.25%
£75,000 to £249,999
-0.0%
-2.7%
-0.25%
£250,000 to £499,999
-0.3%
-2.7%
-0.25%
£500,000 and above
-0.7%
-2.7%
-0.25%
£250,000 to £
Internet Databases and CD Roms
Institution Annual Expenditure
£250,000 to £
3.
Additional Costs
3.1
EBSCO Information Services
For those publications where the publisher gives no discount, EBSCO will initially
mark-up by £10.00 to recover basic processing costs before applying the discount
shown above. The charge is made per line item processed for individual print and
electronic journals, and on an individual title basis for titles contained in publisher
electronic journal packages (up to a maximum of 5 percent of total package cost).
3.2
LM Information Delivery
Non-applicable.
3.3
Swets Information Services
For NESLi2 electronic journals packages, Swets will supply at list price.
2
4.
Additional Rebates
Rebates are paid to the participating institution in respect of the volume of spend
under this Agreement during the accounting period August to July. The rebate shall
be in the form of a cheque or credit note to each library and shall be paid to each
library by the 1st of November of each year.
EBSCO Information Services – volume threshold based on total agreement annual
volume
Volume Threshold
£30,000,000 +
£22,000,000 to £29,999,999
£18,000,000 to £21,999,999
£15,000,000 to £17,999,999
% Rebate
0.6%
0.5%
0.3%
0.2%
LM Information Delivery – volume threshold based on spend by that institution
Volume Threshold
£1.5 million +
£300,000 to £1,499,999
£150,000 to £299,999
Below £150,000
% Rebate
0.5%
0.4%
0.3%
0%
Swets Information Services – volume threshold based on spend by that institution NESLi2 orders earning less than 3% publisher commission will be excluded from
calculations
Volume Threshold
£1.5 million +
£1million to £1,499,999
£0.5 million to £999,999
Volume Threshold
10% increase on previous year
5.
% Rebate
0.5%
0.4%
0.3%
% Rebate
2% of total value increased
Cost Plus Option
Institutional
Expenditure
EBSCO
LM
£500k and above
£20.50
List price + £15.00
£250,000 to £499,999
£21.50
List price + £15.00
£75,000 to £249,999
£23.00
List price + £15.00
£1 to £74,999
£24.50
List price + £15.00
3
Swets
Cost price plus £30
handling charge
Cost price plus £30
handling charge
Cost price plus £30
handling charge
Cost price plus £30
handling charge
6.
Consolidation Service, Assistance with Transferring Subscriptions, Resource
Discovery Tools and Any Other Discounts
See full price schedules submitted by each supplier in Appendix A.
7.
Contact Details for Each Supplier
7.1
EBSCO Information Services
Jan Donnelly – National Sales Manager
jdonnelly@ebsco.com
0208 4474200
EBSCO Information Services, 4th Floor, Kingmaker House, Station Road, New Barnet,
Herts, EN5 1NZ
7.2
LM Information Delivery
Tony Roche – Country Manager
tony.roche@lminfo.co.uk
01295 660950
LM Information Delivery UK Ltd, Western Barn, Manor Farm Business Park, Appletree
Road, Chipping Warden, Nr Banbury, Oxon, OX17 1LN
7.1
Swets Information Services
Jo Sheward – Regional Tenders Manager
jsheward@uk.swets.com
01235 857567
Swets Information Services Ltd, Swan House, Wyndyke Furlong, Abingdon Business
Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 1UQ
8.
Tender Evaluation Scores
Price
Quality
Compliance with Specification
Additional Services/Added Value
Innovation and Development
Total
Weighting
30%
20%
20%
15%
15%
EBSCO
27.48
19.17
16.00
7.50
13.88
84.02
LM
30
15.67
14.12
9.50
12.75
82.03
Swets
27.41
18.50
16.71
10.00
13.50
86.12
Please note that the price score is based on a consortium composite score and you
should run your own journal portfolio through the pricing model to come up with
your individual price score - taking into account the additional rebates, additional
costs and any other services that you may purchase under this Agreement. The
bidder who has the lowest price score is given 30 marks and the other scores are
reduced by 1 mark for each percentage difference.
4
9.
Guidance Notes on Choosing Suppliers
9.1
This Framework Agreement has been tendered in full accordance with the Public
Contracts Regulations 2006 and the Public Contracts (Amendment) Regulations 2009
(sometimes referred to as the ‘EU Directives’) and so, for call-off requirements,
Institutions do not need to go through the full procedural steps of these Regulations
again.
9.2
The EU Procurement Directives require that ‘call-off’ orders (orders that are placed
as a result of a Framework Agreement, such as this one) should be placed by either:
(a) application of the terms laid down in the Framework Agreement without
re-opening competition; or
(b) where not all of the terms of the proposed contract are laid down in the
Framework Agreement, by re-opening competition between the economic
operators that are parties to that [Lot of the] Framework Agreement and
that are capable of performing the proposed contract.
9.3
This Framework Agreement has been structured to minimise the need to re-open
competition (as per paragraph (b) above) but instead to give Institutions maximum
flexibility under paragraph (a) above. Suppliers have been advised in the tender
documentation, and it is also contained within the Contract, that Institutions will calloff from the Framework Agreement in a variety of patterns. Below is an extract from
the tender documentation:
Call-off patterns refer to the methods by which Buyers will choose Suppliers
to place orders with. These patterns will normally be agreed by the
institutional Head of Purchasing or Nominated Officer. The Buyer may vary
each of the evaluation criteria weightings used in the framework tender
evaluation by up to 20 percentage points (+ or – 20 percentage points).
9.4
Call-off patterns refer to the methods by which Buyers will choose Suppliers to place
orders with. The Buyer may vary each of the evaluation weightings used in the
framework tender evaluation by up to 20 percentage points. Call-off patterns will
vary between Buyers and it is anticipated that call-off will be made in a number of
ways, such as:
 Appointing a single-source Supplier;
 Choosing specialist Suppliers for particular requirements e.g. for print or
for electronic materials;
 Undertaking a further competition to select a preferred Supplier when
the Buyer has specific requirements;
 Selecting the most economically advantageous offer or lowest price offer
for each order placed.
The libraries may consider the total cost of transferring subscriptions to another
supplier as part of their decision making.
5
The principles above should be followed when placing orders under this Agreement.
The responsibility for correctly choosing framework suppliers rests solely with the
institution.
9.5
Outlined below are some examples of how you might want to choose your suppliers;
this list is not exhaustive and there is no correct method..
1. At the time of placing an order choose the lowest cost provider from the
framework that can supply items to your requirements – you may wish to
include resource discovery tools, consolidation services, rebates etc.
2. Place all your business with the supplier that scored highest in the tender
evaluation.
3. Change the criteria weightings by up to 20% points and then recalculate
the total score and place your business with the highest scoring supplier:
e.g. Price had a 30% weighting and this could be changed to anywhere
between 50% and 10% and so on. On this basis re-calculate the scores
and award to the highest scoring supplier that can meet your
requirements.
9.6
If an institution wants to re-open competition (i.e. use method (b) above) they
should invite all those suppliers on the Framework Agreement that are capable of
meeting their requirements. Further competitions should be conducted in writing
and suppliers should be given sufficient time to submit their offers. The details of
these offers should be kept confidential until a decision has been made.
9.7
Competition should only be re-opened when an institution has a particular
requirement within the scope of the Agreement but there is insufficient information
in the Agreement for the institution to make a decision.
9.8
English National Purchasing (ENP) has produced a set of Guidance Notes entitled
‘ENP Guidance on undertaking a further/mini competition within an awarded
Framework Agreement’. This guidance is included as Appendix B of this User Guide
and it is strongly recommended that you follow this guidance if you intend to
undertake a further/mini competition within this (or any other) Framework
Agreement.
9.9
Please liaise with your institutional purchasing manager to ensure that you comply
with these EU procurement regulations. Correct application of the regulations is
solely the responsibility of the institution.
6
Appendix A
Supplier Price Schedules
EBSCO's Price Offer
EBSCO would like to offer SUPC and HEPCW a range of innovative pricing offers to enable
their members to achieve the maximum value that their expenditure can realise.
EBSCO would like to offer the following discounts for all print & electronic periodical
subscriptions, publisher e-journal packages, Internet databases, and CD ROMS.
INSTITUTIONAL EXPENDITURE
PRICING (as a percentage of the publisher list price)
£500,000 and above
£250,000-£499,999
£75,000-£249,999
£1-£74,999
0.7% discount
0.3% discount
0.0% publisher list
1.0% service charge
For those publications where the publisher gives no discount, EBSCO will initially mark-up by
£10.00 to recover basic processing costs before applying the discount shown above. The
charge is made per line item processed for individual print and electronic journals, and on an
individual title basis for titles contained in publisher electronic journal packages (up to a
maximum of 5 percent of total package cost).
The following rebates are also on offer to all participating institutions in respect of volume
for the accounting period August to July. This will be presented in the form of a cheque to
each library and shall be paid by November 1st of each year.
Volume Threshold
£15,000,000-£17,999,999
£18,000,000-£21,999,999
£22,000,000-£29,999,999
£30,000,000+
% Rebate
0.2%
0.3%
0.5%
0.6%
Cost Plus Option
Under this pricing scenario a fixed fee is added to the cost price of each individual title. The
publisher cost price is defined as the publisher list price minus any publisher discount, and
the “cost plus” fixed fee is added to the publisher cost price. The charge is made per line
item processed for individual print and electronic journals, and on an individual title basis for
titles contained in publisher electronic journal packages (up to a maximum of 5 percent of
total package cost).
INSTITUTIONAL EXPENDITURE
£500,000 and above
£250,000-£499,999
£75,000-£249,999
£1-£74,999
FIXED FEE
£20.50
£21.50
£23.00
£24.50
7
Product Offering
EBSCO are offering extensive discounts on a wide range of Subject Databases, Access and
Discovery tools and Subscription Management Services.
The following EBSCO Access and Discovery tools will be made available at special discounted
consortia pricing according to institutional expenditure.
INSTITUTIONAL
EXPENDITURE
£500,000 and above
£250,000-£499,999
£75,000-£249,999
£1-£74,999
New and Renewal
subscriptions to A-toZ®, LinkSource, EJournals Database
(EJD), EBSCONET® ERM
Essentials®, EBSCO
MARC Updates, and
Usage Consolidation
75% discount
40% discount
20% discount
10% discount
New
subscriptions
to EBSCO
Publishing
Databases
New
subscriptions to
EBSCO
Discovery
Service™
New
subscriptions
to EBSCOhost
Integrated
Search
20% discount
15% discount
7.5% discount
5% discount
25% discount
15% discount
7.5% discount
5% discount
25% discount
15% discount
7.5% discount
5% discount
Bespoke pricing will be provided upon request dependant on individual site specifications –
i.e. FTE numbers.
JETS Consolidation Service
JETS Consolidation includes receipt/collection, check-in, packing list, claiming and despatch
for journals from Europe/UK (consolidated in Amsterdam/London) and North America and
Rest of the World (consolidated in the USA). Pricing is per processed title per annum:
JETS charge: £14.00 plus courier freight at cost price
EBSCO are able to provide comparative price information, on an annual basis, showing
country of origin pricing/against alternative publisher pricing, together with charges for
consolidation. If required, JETS can be charged as a percentage of publisher list price.
8
Charges for Additional Processing & Technical Services
Bar Coding
EBSCO produces a SISAC barcode for each journal
received by our JETS system, and attaches the
barcode to the journal cover. Libraries with SISAC
compatible ILS system can check-in the issue by
simply scanning this barcode.
Add labels to issues
Our JETS service offers labelling, which can be
attached to the cover of each journal. These labels
print automatically after our check-in group has
checked in a journal. We do not have a standard
label. We provide the choice of creating labels for
your specific requirements. The label can contain 22
fields of information. Examples of fields, which could
be printed on the label are; ISSN, title, volume,
number, year, the name of the library etc
Property labels (supplied by customer) on issues
Security tags (supplied by customer) on issue(s)
Security tags can be attached to each journal at
registration. Any security strip of the customer’s
choice can be used.
Property Stamping (supplied by customer)
Due to difficulties in stamping journals with a glossy
finish, we have no control over the final appearance
of the stamp on the journal.
£2.00 per title
£2.00 per title
£2.00 per title
£2.00 per title
£2.00 per title
Pricing for Consolidation titles is ‘per title per year’
Invoicing & Payment
Early Payment Terms
To enable the Consortia to maximise their purchasing power, whilst reducing time and
overheads in processing invoices, EBSCO offer an Early Prepayment Service.
In offering such a service EBSCO recognise the need of institutions to ensure the security of
prepayment monies. Such security arrangements can, however be costly and
administratively complicated for all parties. These costs, of necessity, reduce the financial
benefits that institutions gain from pre-payment options
EBSCO recommend that, on an annual basis, the institution evaluate the relative financial
situation of their selected supplier(s), subsequently applying the security option which is
most relevant to the level of risk implied in the particular supplier's financial status. This
enables the institution to avoid unnecessary administrative costs, resulting in maximum
additional revenue through pre-payment.
9
EBSCO offer the following discounts against the value of the early payment made:
MONTH INVOICE PAID
July
August
September
October
November
December
SETTLEMENT DISCOUNT*
1.8%
1.5%
1.2%
0.9%
0.6%
0.0%
* Settlement discount based on July to December 2011.
To take advantage of this offer, payment must be cleared by 20th of the month, and is
payable against a one-line invoice (minimum pre-payment amount £10,000) supplied by
EBSCO at the library’s request.
Prepayments are payable against a one-line invoice (minimum pre-payment amount £5,000)
supplied by EBSCO at the library’s request. EBSCO will send the main renewal invoice in early
December followed by a statement of reconciliation early in the New Year. We can offer
further flexible options to meet your particular needs. Please contact us for further
information.
Please note that these Early Payments are guaranteed by EBSCO Industries Inc who hold a
Dun and Bradstreet rating of 5A1, the highest awarded.
These Early Payment discounts are not applicable if an ESCROW Account is used.
Please note that these rates are not linked to any index. They are fixed and will not vary
during the agreement.
Invoicing
We offer a wide range of flexible invoicing options providing pertinent information to help
you control your serials collection. At transition and account set-up, we will note your
preferences for invoicing.
We generally provide one main invoice each year depending on your primary renewal
schedule. In addition to the main annual invoice, other invoices may be provided to
consolidate billing requirements, supplemental bills due to publisher price increases or
provide extra invoices if you choose to pay in instalments.
EBSCO will send one-line invoices within five working days of request. All items on the
invoice will be displayed in Sterling, with their original currency and exchange rate used at
the time of payment if the items are not originally charged in Sterling.
The administrative workload involved in handling invoices can be reduced by handling
invoices electronically.
 We understand the importance of managing your invoices electronically, so we
try to offer solutions to make this as easy as possible.
10
 Accordingly, we offer electronic data services compatible with more than 70
integrated library systems, serials control systems, procurement systems (e.g.
Ariba®, Oracle®, iProcurements and SAP EBP), ERM systems in addition to
conventional databases and spreadsheet software
 We can supply invoices to your institution in the most used standards such as
XML, XI2 and UNI/EDIPACT
 Invoices can also be sent by email in the following formats: Excel, PDF and
comma delimited text
EBSCO invoice all customers at the exchange rate achieved when purchasing funds to pay
publishers which is at the point of ordering. This information is verifiable on request. EBSCO
do not speculate on exchange rate movement but buy as needed.
Payment
Payment can be made in a variety of ways, these are explained on the invoice (automated
electronic payment is the most secure and cost effective).
Due to the fact that we will have already met the publishers’ payment criteria on your behalf
at the time of invoicing in order to ensure prompt handling of your orders by the publisher
and timely receipt of issues, our standard payment terms are payment on receipt of invoice.
We do not charge any fees for electronic invoicing or processing payment.
We reserve the right to charge monthly interest of 1% on invoices outstanding for more than
60 days in accordance with standard regulation.
EBSCO would like to offer the Consortia the option of Early Settlement Discounts, for nonESCROW early payments. Details of this offer can be found in the Early Payment Terms
above.
EBSCO can provide security in the form of an ESCROW account. An administrative charge of
£150 will be made by EBSCO for the establishment of the account. The requesting
organisation will be responsible for providing all the necessary signatory identification
documentation. It usually takes
4-6 weeks for the library and bank to complete the necessary bank paperwork. To enable
value to be gained from the account, EBSCO suggests that all requests for an ESCROW
account are made before the end of August.
For payments over £25,000, EBSCO will invest the payment into a NatWest Treasury Reserve
Account in order to maximise interest earned. The current rate of interest will be advised
upon account set up. The interest rate is variable according to the amount invested and
NatWest interest rates.
Interest will be credited to the library's account at 0.5% below the NatWest Treasury Reserve
Account rate.
ESCROW accounts are not available for payments of under £25,000.
11
Products and Services Included in Our Price Offer
 Individual named Customer Service and Sales support for both your print and
electronic journal portfolio and also for your database portfolio management
 Online access to EBSCONET, our serials management system
 Complimentary access to E-Package Renewals on EBSCONET
 Complimentary online access to the EBSCOhost platform and following
databases: Greenfile, LISTA, and Teacher Reference Centre
 Onsite training, seminars and support for both librarians and end users
 Additional online training for all our products via dedicated e-learning webinars
 E-resource licence negotiations*
 To encourage libraries to adopt efficient and environmentally friendly electronic
ordering and claiming practices, EBSCO have included an additional 0.6%
discount into each pricing offer. This additional discount will not be applied for
libraries who do not use EBSCONET or EDI for the majority of their renewals
and claims
* If the relevant electronic product/service is procured through EBSCO.
12
Example Savings and Financial Benefits
Library A - Spending £500,000 and above with EBSCO (not including Early Payment
Discounts):
EBSCO Offer
Subscriptions at 0.7% discount
Turnover Rebate at 0.3% (Current Spend)
A-to-Z® at 75% discount
LinkSource at 75% discount
MARC updates at 75% discount
EBSCONET® ERM Essentials® at 75%
discount
E-Journals Database on EBSCOhost at 75%
discount
EBSCOhost Integrated Search at 25%
discount
EBSCO Discovery Service™ at 25% discount
Saving (per library)
£3,500
£1,500
£1,875 - £4,125 (based on FTE)
£3,375 - £9,375 (based on FTE)
£1,875 - £4,125 (based on FTE)
£3,750 - £11,250 (based on FTE)
Dependant on each site specification
Dependant on each site specification
Dependant on each site specification
Estimated Total Savings based on a library
spend over £500,000 with EBSCO:
Ranging from £15,875 (minimum) to
£33,875 dependant on site specification.
These example savings are calculated using the following pricing EBSCO is offering to SUPC
and HEPCW:
A-to-Z®, MARC Updates, LinkSource & EBSCONET® ERM Essentials® Standard Pricing
A-to-Z®
£
LinkSource
£
MARC Updates
£
EBSCONET® ERM
Essentials®
£
List
Consortia
price*
Member
price**
Number of
FTE
List
price*
Consortia
Member
price**
List
price*
Consortia
Member
price**
List
price*
Consortia
Member
price**
Up to 2,499
2,500
625
4,500
1,125
2,500
625
5,000
1,250
2,500 to
4,999
3,250
813
6,500
1,625
3,250
813
7,500
1,875
5,000 to
9,999
4,000
1,000
8,500
2,125
4,000
1,000
10,000
2,500
10,000 to
19,999
4,750
1,188
10,500
2,625
4,750
1,188
12,500
3,125
20,000 and
over
5,500
1,375
12,500
3,125
5,500
1,375
15,000
3,750
13
The above tables reflect the following discounts offered to SUPC and HEPCW Members:
A-to-Z®, LinkSource, MARC Updates and EBSCONET® ERM Essentials®: 75%
*Please note these prices are per site subscription and subject to yearly review.
**Please note these prices are for new subscriptions and based on an institutional spend of over £500,000
INSTITUTIONAL
EXPENDITURE**
Discount for
E-Journals Database
Discount for EBSCO
Discovery Service™
£500,000 and above
£250,000-£499,999
£75,000-£249,999
£1-£74,999
75%
75%
75%
75%
25%
15%
7.5%
5%
Discount for
EBSCOhost Integrated
Search
25%
15%
7.5%
5%
Bespoke pricing will be provided upon request dependant on individual site specifications –
i.e. FTE number.
14
LM Information Delivery Price Schedule
1
Pricing
1.1
General
All prices/discounts should be based on service provided in accordance with the
Specification and Conditions of Agreement. The basis for charging of periodicals (as
defined in the Specification) shall be the most favourable applicable publisher’s list
price. Prices for periodicals with publisher’s list price in currencies other than sterling
shall be calculated in accordance with our stated policy on the pricing of such
periodicals (see paragraph 4 of this price schedule). We would prefer to receive
discounts at the time of ordering rather than on a retrospective rebate basis.
1.2
Electronic Journals
Please state the pricing structure(s) that you are prepared to offer for electronic
journals including packages
DISCOUNT
1.3
Discounts
1.3.1
Print Periodicals
3.1 %
Please state the discount that you are prepared to offer as a percentage of the
publisher’s list price. This should uniformly be applied to all periodicals at the time of
initial invoice. We are not seeking to have individual subscription lists separately
priced and this formula will be applied to every title in each library unless more
advantageous terms are available.
DISCOUNT
1.3.2
2.7 %
Internet Databases
Please state the discount that you are prepared to offer as a percentage of the
publisher’s list price. This should uniformly be applied to all Internet databases at the
time of initial invoice. We are not seeking to have individual subscription lists
separately priced and this formula will be applied to every title in each library unless
more advantageous terms are available.
DISCOUNT
1.3.3
2.7 %
CD Roms
Please state the discount that you are prepared to offer as a percentage of the
publisher’s list price. This should uniformly be applied to all CD Roms at the time of
initial invoice. We are not seeking to have individual subscription lists separately
priced and this formula will be applied to every title in each library unless more
advantageous terms are available.
15
DISCOUNT
2.7 %
1.4
Rebates
1.4.1
Please state the %* rebate that you will offer to all participating institutions in
respect of volume for the accounting period August to July. The rebate shall be in the
form of a cheque to each library and shall be paid to each library by November 1 st of
each year.
*the actual rebate shall be calculated as a % of the total sum spent by participating
institutions on periodicals with the agent
1.4.2
Volume Threshold
% Rebate
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Please state the % rebate that you will offer to each participating institution in
respect of volume or % commitment purchased by that institution during the
accounting period August to July. The rebate shall be in the form of a cheque to each
library and shall be paid to each library by November 1st of each year.
Volume or % commitment
% Rebate
£ 1.5M +
0.50 %
£ 300,000 - £ 1.5M
0.40 %
£ 150,000 - £ 299,999
0.30 %
Below £ 150,000
0.00 %
16
1.5
Cost plus Option
Several libraries currently purchase their journals on a cost plus basis ie the cost of
the journal to the agent plus a handling charge. Please give full details of any cost
plus options that you can offer for all journals, databases and CD Roms.
Answer: Supplier’s list price + £ 15
2
Early settlement discounts
Invoices for each calendar year’s subscription shall normally be rendered between
July and September of each year as agreed by the individual library. You are asked to
submit early settlement discounts which are applicable to invoices paid in advance of
December.
MONTH INVOICE PAID
SETTLEMENT DISCOUNT*
July
2.0
August
1.5
September
1.0
October
0.7
November
0.4
December
0.1
* Settlement discount based on July to December 2010.
Please state how you calculate your settlement discount in relation to the Bank of
England base interest rate or some other index.
Answer: All discounts mentioned above are independent of Bank of England’s base
interest or any other interests
Please state what arrangements you will make for the security of monies paid in
advance e.g. banker’s guarantee, independently managed escrow accounts. Please
provide the costs, if any, for these arrangements.
Answer: Bank guarantee will be arranged at the request
17
3
Consolidation service
Please provide a full specification of the consolidation service that you can provide
together with a charge per issue for this service. Charges per issue should be given
for a basic consolidation service with no additional handling together with additional
costs for eg, security, tagging, stamping, distribution lists etc.
Answer:
Consolidation Service
Charge
Basic Consolidation Service (e.g.
repackaging of
issues for
delivery, timely claiming of
missing issues, maintenance of
£ 1.00
agreed shipment pattern)
Additional Services:
Physical Processing:
Stamping
£ 0.20
Tagging
£ 0.20
Labelling
£ 0.30
Internal Circulation Lists
Free
EDI Check-in Data
Free
Delivery:
Daily delivery to the member
library
Weekly delivery to the member
library
Yes
Included in the basic
charge.
Also monthly deliveries available.
4
Non sterling periodicals
Please outline your policy on pricing non sterling journals and give your exchange
rates for the currencies listed below.
Currency
US Dollar
Euro
5
Exchange rate at 24
January 2010
1.6208
1.145
Exchange rate at 2
June 2009
1.6563
1.1583
Exchange rate at 3
November 2009
1.6393
1.1169
Resource Discovery Tools
Please provide full details of the resource discovery tools that you can supply to
libraries. You should clearly indicate if there are additional costs for any of these
tools.
Answer: Please see attached brochure “Total E-Resource Solutions”. Prices of the
services are customer specific depending on the type of organisation, amount of
content (databases, e-journals, e-books and A & I databases), number of the FTE
etc. Prices also depend on the amount of subscriptions ordered through LM
18
Customer specific pricing will be given after more detailed information over the
customers
6
Any Other Discounts
Please provide details of any other discounts/rebates that you can offer e.g.
efficiency discounts.
Completed by: Janne Järvinen
Company: LM Information Delivery
Date: 22.02.2011
19
Swets Price Schedule
1.
Pricing
1.1
General
All prices/discounts should be based on service provided in accordance with the
Specification and Conditions of Agreement. The basis for charging of periodicals (as
defined in the Specification) shall be the most favourable applicable publisher’s list
price. Prices for periodicals with publisher’s list price in currencies other than sterling
shall be calculated in accordance with our stated policy on the pricing of such
periodicals (see paragraph 4 of this price schedule). We would prefer to receive
discounts at the time of ordering rather than on a retrospective rebate basis.
1.2
Electronic Journals
Please state the pricing structure(s) that you are prepared to offer for electronic
journals including packages
Swets is pleased to offer an identical pricing structure for electronic journals as print
journals, for all individual titles subscribed to. For NESLi2 electronic journals
packages, we will supply at publisher’s list price. Other electronic journals packages
will be available at the discounted ‘print periodicals’ price.
1.3
Discounts
1.3.1
Print Periodicals
Please state the discount that you are prepared to offer as a percentage of the
publisher’s list price. This should uniformly be applied to all periodicals at the time of
initial invoice. We are not seeking to have individual subscription lists separately
priced and this formula will be applied to every title in each library unless more
advantageous terms are available.
DISCOUNT
1.3.2
0.25 %
Internet Databases
Please state the discount that you are prepared to offer as a percentage of the
publisher’s list price. This should uniformly be applied to all Internet databases at the
time of initial invoice. We are not seeking to have individual subscription lists
separately priced and this formula will be applied to every title in each library unless
more advantageous terms are available.
DISCOUNT
1.3.3
0.25 %
CD Roms
Please state the discount that you are prepared to offer as a percentage of the
publisher’s list price. This should uniformly be applied to all CD Roms at the time of
initial invoice. We are not seeking to have individual subscription lists separately
20
priced and this formula will be applied to every title in each library unless more
advantageous terms are available.
DISCOUNT
0.25 %
1.4
Rebates
1.4.1
Please state the %* rebate that you will offer to all participating institutions in
respect of volume for the accounting period August to July. The rebate shall be in the
form of a cheque to each library and shall be paid to each library by November 1st of
each year.
*the actual rebate shall be calculated as a % of the total sum spent by participating
institutions on periodicals with the agent
Volume Threshold
% Rebate
10% increase on previous year
2% of total value increased
This threshold is set on the total annual SUPC spend via Swets. The rebate would be provided
by means of issuing a credit note, calculated by dividing the total value of the rebate across
all SUPC members equally. Please note that NESLi2 orders earning less than 3% publisher
commission will be excluded from calculations.
1.4.2
Please state the % rebate that you will offer to each participating institution in
respect of volume or % commitment purchased by that institution during the
accounting period August to July. The rebate shall be in the form of a cheque to each
library and shall be paid to each library by November 1st of each year.
Volume or % commitment
% Rebate
£1.5m +
£1m - £1.5m
£0.5m - £1.0m
0.5%
0.4%
0.3%
Please note that NESLi2 orders earning less than 3% publisher commission will be excluded
from calculations.
1.5
Cost plus Option
Several libraries currently purchase their journals on a cost plus basis ie the cost of
the journal to the agent plus a handling charge. Please give full details of any cost
plus options that you can offer for all journals, databases and CD Roms.
Swets will offer SUPC members the following cost plus model (where cost price is the
price charged to the agent by the publisher):
Cost price + £30 handling charge
There are, however, several factors which we want to make SUPC aware of with this
pricing model.
1) This model does present a risk that publishers become aware that Swets is
passing on the commission we earn from publishers to our library customers. This
21
could result in publishers removing our commission entirely which means SUPC
libraries will pay an increased nett price rate in addition to the handling charge listed
above.
2) Outside of the above, we are seeing a trend in publishers looking to reduce the
commissions they pay agents (even though they are not being passed on at present)
and anticipate that this will continue.
3) Smaller libraries are likely to end up paying a bigger element of handling charge
in comparison to the cost of their subscriptions which are typically a lower average
subscription price than a large University library. This model essentially results in
smaller libraries subsidising the bigger libraries in the consortium.
4) We are also seeking clarification from the tax office as to whether VAT needs to
be levied on the listed handling charge in this model which we know is likely to add
further pressure to already stretched library budgets.
2
Early settlement discounts
Invoices for each calendar year’s subscription shall normally be rendered between
July and September of each year as agreed by the individual library. You are asked to
submit early settlement discounts which are applicable to invoices paid in advance of
December.
MONTH INVOICE PAID
SETTLEMENT DISCOUNT*
July (30th June)
0.65
August (31st July)
0.52
September (31st August)
0.39
October (30th September)
0.26
November
0
December
0
* Settlement discount based on July to December 2010.
Please note that early settlement discounts are reviewed annually. The discount
granted is calculated pro rata on a daily basis. Therefore payment received on 15 th
August, for example, will attract a greater bonus than payment received on 30 th
August.
22
Please state how you calculate your settlement discount in relation to the Bank of
England base interest rate or some other index.
Swets sets the early payment discount rates by using the 6-months LIBOR (London
InterBank Offered Rate) for each given currency as a base rate. This rate is then
reviewed by our Management Committee and Treasury and may be revised to take
into account specifics of the subscriptions purchasing model. The 6-months rate is
selected as this typically corresponds with the average prepayment period for our
customers.
Please state what arrangements you will make for the security of monies paid in
advance eg. bankers guarantee, independently managed escrow accounts. Please
provide the costs, if any, for these arrangements.
Where required, Swets will provide bank guarantees to SUPC member libraries. The
charge for these is 0.75% of the amount guaranteed. Swets will guarantee the
prepayments from the time the payment is received until the key period when we
prepay the majority of publishers (31st October). Please note therefore that most
value is obtained from the provision of bank guarantees where prepayment is made
several months in advance of this date.
3
Consolidation service
Please provide a full specification of the consolidation service that you can provide
together with a charge per issue for this service. Charges per issue should be given
for a basic consolidation service with no additional handling together with additional
costs for e.g., security, tagging, stamping, distribution lists etc.
SwetsWise Consolidation is by far the most advanced, proven serials consolidation
service for libraries, currently handling over 70,000 titles using the most advanced
automated systems, and supplying thousands of libraries from more than 140
countries world-wide, with over 200 of these libraries in the UK and Ireland.
Key features of our service include:








Substantial saving on cost of US journals;
Speedier delivery of most US material;
More productive use of staff resources;
Automated weekly claiming of missing or damaged material;
Automated check-in at our eight check-in and distribution centres;
Packing slip in hardcopy and/or electronic format with each consignment;
Cumulative shipment report giving status of outstanding claims and material sent;
Additional processing if required, such as security tags, circulation labelling, date
stamping etc.
Library staff are also able to access our online system SwetsWise Subscriptions, to
view information concerning material sent and claimed through the service, as well
as updating circulation slips and customer references if required.
23
The standard consolidation service offers:
 Check-in of journals;
 Barcode labels attached to each journal which can incorporate a budget/order
number, shelf mark/cost codes;
 All shipments sent with a packing slip document, which can also be provided split
by budget if required (packing slip data can also be provided in electronic format
or via EDI);
 All missing material claimed on a regular basis;
 Material delivered by a trackable service.
Additional services can be provided offering:
 Attachment of circulation slips (attached to journals as specified by clients - e.g.
staples (including number used); double-sided tape);
 Date stamping;
 Security tagging (tags provided by clients);
 Budget splitting of issues, marking each split by budget name (material shipped in
one box);
 Sticker service.
The use of the additional services can provide material arriving in the library in a
shelf ready condition.
Charges are currently set at £1.10 per issue with an additional charge of 25 pence
per issue for each additional service undertaken.
At the time of submitting this response, the freight charge is £5.70 per box for
England and Wales. There is an additional 50p per consignment charge for Greater
London. These charges are reviewed annually.
4
Non sterling periodicals
Please outline your policy on pricing non sterling journals and give your exchange
rates for the currencies listed below.
It is Swets policy to fix exchange rates at the time of our major, bulk purchase of
currencies in October preceding the new subscription year. This coincides with the
prepayments of the majority of our customers’ calendar year subscriptions. In all
cases, Swets does not buy currency significantly in advance of it being needed and
we seek to minimise the risk of exposure to currency fluctuations for customers and
ourselves by keeping the purchase and invoicing procedures relatively close to each
other. Please note that we are currently reviewing our exchange rate policy due to
the volatile currency markets during the past two years.
Libraries may have their invoices issued in Euros, USD or Sterling (depending on the
invoicing currency of the publisher) which would remove their exposure to exchange
rate fluctuations. Alternatively, we can manage this process for them and issue all
invoices in Sterling, when we would incorporate a 1% charge into the subscription
price for all non-sterling periodicals.
24
Currency
US Dollar
Euro
5
Exchange rate at
24 January 2010
1.5593
1.1142
Exchange rate at 2
June 2009
1.6370
1.1590
Exchange rate at 3
November 2009
1.5766
1.0816
Resource Discovery Tools
Please provide full details of the resource discovery tools that you can supply to
libraries. You should clearly indicate if there are additional costs for any of these
tools.
As part of the standard service offered in this proposal, all SUPC & HEPCW members
using Swets for journal subscription services will also have access to SwetsWise
Subscriptions and 5 platforms from SwetsWise Selection Support for no additional
charge.
In addition we are pleased to offer the following upgrade packages:
Basic SwetsWise Access & Management Suite - £750 per annum
(Comprises SwetsWise Online Content, SwetsWise Title Bank, SwetsWise eSource
Manager)
Easy access for your end users!
The Basic SwetsWise Access & Management Suite provides easy access to all your
acquired content. It offers a complete overview of all publications ordered across
your entire organisation and their availability. Your end users gain easy access to the
most extensive collection of e-journals currently available and you retain control of
all acquisition and authentication options. The following features and functionality
are available within the Basic Access & Management Suite:
 More than 32 million searchable references and direct links to over 15,000 full
text publications;
 Swift access set-up for new e-journal subscriptions;
 Integrated A-Z listing of all content available for end users;
 Pay-per-view & Document Delivery;
 TOC/search alerts.
Extensive license management features are also available providing the ability to
maintain your collection by tracking the status of each subscription, the resources
they cover and what licensing terms and conditions apply to them. This will enable
you to:
 Save valuable work time with our pre-populated, automatically maintained
database including cost and status information;
 Utilise the largest collection of publisher license information in the industry;
 Attach subscriptions to specific licenses for both Swets and non-Swets managed
titles.
25
This Suite has been designed to also meet the complex licensing and subscriptions
management needs you may have in the most efficient, easy-to-use and effective
way possible.
Advanced SwetsWise Access & Management Suite
(In addition to the Basic Suite, comprises SwetsWise Selection Support)
Up to 5 platforms – FREE OF CHARGE to all members using Swets’ journal
subscription services
Up to 15 platforms - £2,500
Up to 25 platforms - £3,500
Up to 35 platforms - £4,500
Up to 45 platforms - £5,300
Up to 55 platforms - £6,000
Up to 65 platforms - £6,500
In addition to the comprehensive functionality available within the Basic Access &
Management Suite, the Advanced Suite also contains the following capabilities:
Detailed usage analysis!
The Advanced SwetsWise Access & Management Suite will help you extract the most
value from your library’s collection. Using SwetsWise’s powerful technology, usage
statistics are automatically collected and integrated with extensive subscription
details and price information. It contains substantial and fully customisable reporting
capabilities, enabling you to fully analyse your entire subscription spend and make
better informed collection decisions in the future. You will be able to use:
 Our sophisticated reporting functionalities which automatically combine accurate
price and usage information into one complete overview;
 The user-friendly interface which offers a simple and transparent way to calculate
the price per use of a subscription;
 And share usage data with your consortium when applicable.
Our Advanced SwetsWise Access & Management Suite offers you valuable support in
the collection decision process undertaken during the renewal season and allows for
comparisons down to title level.
26
SwetsWise Searcher
We are also pleased to offer SwetsWise Searcher, our next generation search engine,
as a Resource Discovery Tool at the following rates to all members;
No. of connectors / No.
of users
Up to 10 connectors
11 to 25 connectors
25 to 50 connectors
51 to 100 connectors
Up to 2,000
students
£3,240
£5,680
£6,650
£8,950
Up to 5,000
students
£4,400
£6,200
£8,100
£10,200
Up to 10,000
students
£4,950
£6,800
£8,600
£10,800
SwetsWise Searcher supplies your users with an easy-to-use, efficient means of
locating and obtaining the most relevant content, simultaneously searching journals,
eBooks or other content in your collection, thus increasing the usage of that content
and the overall value of your collection. SwetsWise Searcher, powered by the
software of Deep Web Technologies, is capable of building strong connectors to all
databases, gateways and internal sources that are available online and have a search
box.
Further information about SwetsWise Searcher is available online at:
https://www.swetswise.com/web/show/id=44957/langid=42
6
Any Other Discounts
Please provide details of any other discounts/rebates that you can offer e.g.
efficiency discounts.
1) Transfer Incentive: Swets will offer any individual SUPC member transferring
£200,000 or more of additional business to Swets that is currently held elsewhere (ie.
Direct with publishers or via another agent) a 0.5% rebate of the library’s entire
spend with Swets. This will be awarded in the subscription year in which the transfer
is made. Please note this excludes ScienceDirect.
2) As stated in the Resource Discovery Tools pricing element in section 5, all SUPC
members using Swets for journal subscription services will receive FREE access to
SwetsWise Selection Support for the supply of usage statistics from 5 platforms. This
represents a discount of £1,854 per member on standard pricing.
Completed by: Jo Sheward
Company: Swets Information Services Ltd
Date: 23rd February 2011
27
Appendix B
ENP Guidance on undertaking a further/mini competition within an awarded
Framework Agreement
When accessing a multiple supplier framework agreement institutions can undertake a
further or mini competition to call-off from that agreement. The aim of this guidance is to
explain and simplify the process.
What is a further/mini-competition?
A further/mini competition is a process that you can carry out to place a call-off contract
under a framework agreement where the best value supplier has not been specified. It allows
you to further refine your requirement whilst retaining the benefits offered under the
collaborative agreement.
Benefits of doing a further/mini-competition under a framework agreement:
Speed
Savings
Consortia Purchasing
Multiple Sourcing
Refining Requirements
Best Value
Terms and Conditions
Compliance to EU Regulations
Faster and less onerous than a full tender process
No need for a standstill period (1)
No need to assess successful suppliers’ capacity and
capability to provide your requirements using
selection criteria such as financial standing, technical
capability, staffing, health and safety, environmental
aspects, accreditations etc. – work already done by
contracting authority
By providing an EU compliant platform, there is no
need to advertise the requirement
Additional cost savings possible at the further/minicompetition stage, where pricing is not fixed (or is
fixed at a maximum level)
Your further/mini-competition will still achieve the
benefits of Consortia purchasing
Multiple opportunities for source of supply provide
increased choice and competition for institutions
Your exact requirement can be further refined over
and above the basic contract terms.
You can simply focus on achieving best value for
money for your specific requirement
Terms and conditions of the agreement will have
already been established, so call-offs can just be
made in reference to the agreement and its
conditions
By following these guidelines and any specifics
detailed in the Buyer’s Guide you will ensure you are
adhering to EU Procurement legislation
28
EU Directives:
When awarding call-offs, the full procedural steps of the EU Directives do not need to be
applied. However, the EU Treaty-based principles, including equal treatment, transparency
and non-discrimination do still apply.
Frameworks do not in themselves create any contractual obligations, whereas a call-off does.
In placing a call-off contract with a supplier from a framework, your institution will be making
a commitment to purchase the specified goods/services from that supplier.
IMPORTANT - Effect of the Remedies Directive:
The EU Remedies Directive was implemented into The Public Contracts Regulations on 20
December 2009. The new Directive applies to Frameworks commenced on or after 20
December 2009, and any subsequent further/mini-competitions under that Framework. Key
changes include the requirement that bidders must be notified of the outcome of the
further/mini-competition, and that the call-off contract resulting from the further/minicompetition may, if subject to a legal challenge, result in a financial penalty, curtailment of
the contract, or in an ineffectiveness order. For call-offs above the EU threshold, and for
which the new Directive applies, you could choose to run a voluntary standstill period which
would limit the remedies available if challenged to damages only - ineffectiveness would not
apply.
For further details of the implications and changes of this please see the Government note at
the following link:
http://www.ogc.gov.uk/procurement_policy_and_application_of_eu_rules_european_procu
rement_directives.asp
You must not run a further/mini-competition under a framework agreement in order to
create your own framework agreement from which you could run further/minicompetitions for call-offs. However, you may decide to conduct a further/mini competition
to select a single supplier to service all your requirements over a defined period.
29
Further/Mini-Competition Process Guidance:
1. Prepare your Invitation To Quote (ITQ)
2. Issue your ITQ
3. Evaluate responses and select supplier
4. Award
1. Preparing your ITQ:
You cannot change the basic terms or specification set out in a framework agreement,
further/mini-competitions allow you to refine the basic terms of the framework prior to
making a call-off.
For example, areas you can refine include:
 Delivery timescales;
 Invoicing/payment arrangements;
 Associated services, such as installation, maintenance and training;
 Quantity;
 Functional specification
Under no circumstances should brand names or brand-specific descriptions of goods be used
(e.g. Hewlett-Packard printer or BiC Biro pen) (2). Descriptions should give reference to the
characteristics and outputs of the product or service. Where no other description is possible,
any reference should be qualified by adding the words ‘or equivalent’.
It is very important to use ‘input’ OR ‘output’ based specification and you should identify one
or the other.
Examples of each are given below:
 An ‘Output’ specification will state the intended result e.g. a clean hospital ward.
This has the advantage of leaving the supplier/provider to determine how to
execute the requirement and encourages innovation.
 An ‘Input’ specification will specify what materials/products, labour inputs,
timings etc. you must use, e.g. 3 experienced cleaners to use environmentally
accredited products to clean a hospital ward from 6.00am to 8.00am, 7 days a
week. This method reduces freedom to innovate and bring in alternative/better
products than those identified in the ITT.
Using an output based specification enables suppliers to quote for the provision of
goods/services that meet your minimum requirements and does not unnecessarily eliminate
a supplier that cannot supply the exact brand/manufacturer of goods specified. This can also
reduce the risk of unnecessarily over-specifying your requirement.
30
ITQ’s should focus on your actual requirement i.e. the goods/service you require, and not
selection criteria such as supplier experience, technical capability, location, accreditations
etc. (these have all already been evaluated by the Consortium).
The evaluation criteria, and weighting applied to each, must be notified to the suppliers at
this first stage of inviting them to quote. (See point 3 for further details on evaluation
criteria.)
2. Issue your ITQ:
Issue an ITQ in writing (by email, fax, or post) to the suppliers capable of performing the
contract.
a) Only if it is clear a supplier cannot meet your requirement can you choose not to
issue the ITQ to that particular provider.
For example, in an Office Equipment agreement only 5 of the 7 suppliers offer a
no-commitment option, so if you wanted no-commitment you would only have to
approach the 5 that could supply to your requirement.
b) Sometimes the framework may be divided into categories or lots, each covering
different supplies or services. In this case, you only need to consult suppliers in
the lot(s) which cover the goods or services required.
For example, an External Print framework has 2 ‘lots’; one covering prestigious
work and one covering tactical work. If you had a prestigious job to issue an ITQ
for, you would only need to issue it to the suppliers on that particular lot, not all
the suppliers on the framework.
c) Set a reasonable timeframe for responses, that reflects the complexity of the
requirement.
d) Maintain confidentiality until after the closing date.
Please note:
You cannot amend the Terms and Conditions agreed under the Framework
You cannot issue the ITQ to suppliers not awarded to the Framework
3. Evaluate responses and select your Supplier:
The criteria on which an institution must base an award decision for a further/minicompetition - either lowest price or MEAT (most economically advantageous tender) - will be
detailed in the Buyer’s Guide which will be available on the CuPID.
Using lowest price as the award criteria, you should assess the suppliers:
1. first on their ability to meet your needs such as meeting the specification of
goods/services required, quantity, delivery etc.
2. and then on price (i.e. if several suppliers could meet your needs, then the call-off
31
should be awarded to the lowest price quoted. If only one could fulfill the requirement,
then this supplier would be awarded the call-off)
Using MEAT as the award criteria, you need to assess the supplier responses for both price
and qualitative elements. The criteria that must be used at this stage will be listed in the
Buyer’s Guide.
Note: You can only use award criteria as detailed in the original framework award (and
subsequently included in the Buyer’s Guide).
You should assess and score each supplier’s response. The supplier with the best overall score
(thereby offering the most economically advantageous tender) should be awarded the
contract.
Award criteria weightings as specified in the original tender documents can be amended but
should not be changed substantially (some framework agreements may state the changes
that can be made to the weightings).
4. Award:
Once the evaluation stage is completed, the call-off contract can be awarded. All bidders
should be notified of the outcome of the further/mini-competition. Remember, you don’t
need to apply the standstill period to a further/mini-competition (1), but you may still need to
debrief participants afterwards if requested. Where a debriefing is requested, it should be
completed within 15 days of the written request.
If you require any further clarification on the process, please contact a member of your
Consortium.
32
Definitions (general):
Buyer’s Guide – A document produced by the Consortia which provides an overview of the
agreement that has been let and guidance on how institutions can access and use the
agreement.
Call-off Contract – The call–off contract is the legally binding contract between the institution
and the framework supplier which defines the goods/services to be provided.
Framework Agreement – A framework agreement can be described as ‘a general term for
agreements with providers which set out terms and conditions under which specific
purchases (call-offs) can be made throughout the term of the agreement’.
Further/Mini-Competition – Further or mini-competition is the term used to describe one of
the processes for selecting a supplier on a framework agreement to place a call-off contract
with. The terms ‘further’ and ‘mini’ are used interchangeably, and within this document, we
refer to ‘further/mini-competition’.
Standstill Period – A mandatory period applied to the end of a contracting process, prior to
contract award.
Thresholds – Financial levels set by the EU which will determine the procurement route that
should be followed.
Definitions (remedies directive specific):
Ineffectiveness Order - A remedy that could be applied if found to have awarded a call-off
contract in breach of the terms of the Framework.
Voluntary Standstill - A voluntary process an institution may choose to follow for an above
EU threshold call-off, and which reduces the remedies available should a legal challenge be
brought.
(1) You may choose as a default position to apply a voluntary standstill period to a further/minicompetition of above EU threshold under a Framework Agreement to which the Remedies
Directive applies to reduce the risk of ineffectiveness applying.
(2) You may be in breach of EU regulations if you choose to use a brand name or brand specific
description of goods that restricts competition at ITQ stage. You are advised to use a functional
(output) specification wherever possible.
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