A negotiated procedure is a method of awarding a contract where the public authority directly negotiates the terms of the contract with one or more suppliers.
Unlike open or restricted procedures, which are based on a formal bidding process, a negotiated procedure allows for flexibility in discussions, including details on price, delivery, and services. The competitive negotiated procedure, by contrast, starts with a public call and a selection of multiple candidates, ensuring a competitive environment.
The steps involved in the negotiated procedure in Mercell Tendering is the same regardless of whether acompetitive negotiated procedure is used. They follow three steps:
Step 1: A request to participate phase (invitation to participate)
(This step follows the same process as a restricted procedure.)
Invitation to participate:
When a contract notice specifies a "restricted procedure" and an "above-threshold value," an invitation to participate is automatically generated for the notice.
Since only registration for the competitive tendering is required at this stage, only dynamic "suitability requirements" are typically requested. The specific criteria for the procurement will be asked for later, during the call for tenders stage.
The notice will be published the same way as in an open procedure to the national portal and the Supplier Portal, where all interested suppliers can submit a notification of their willingness to participate in the competitive tendering.
Selection to the negotiation round
When the deadline expires, the requests to participate will be processed following the standard process and the contracting entity will select the tenderers to be invited to the tendering round.
How?
Select suppliers in the comparison table
The participants can be selected for the actual call for tenders round from the Requests to participate tab in the comparison table view
Or from the Comparison tab under Open comparison
Remember to click your supplier selections on the Choose a supplier row of the comparison table.
Select a notification method
Navigate to the Rounds tab
On the Rounds tab, choose whether to make an interim decision and notification. The options are:
Send a rejection notice to those who were rejected
This option will only send a rejection message to the rejected suppliers by e-mail
Enter the message heading and text (the default text can be edited), and then click Send an email
After sending, the system proceeds to the call for tenders stage
Make an interim decision and notification
Make an interim decision using the contract award form and send notification to all candidates and tenderers.
Mark that no interim contract award or notification will be made
In this option, no notification will be made at all, but instead the system proceeds directly to the next step
Step 2: Negotiation round
Select a template for the negotiation round:
Use the notice from this round as a template
The invitation to participate is copied as a template for the call for tenders
Select a different template
Use the search form to select the call for tenders that you wish to use as a template
Enter your search term into the window and click the "Enter" button
Empty template
A negotiation round's call for tenders is drafted in the same way as for a national procurement notification.
Publishing a negotiation round
Before publication, the publication view requires one of the following to be selected:
"Suppliers are requested to submit a tender"
Suppliers submit tenders using the Tarjouspalvelu supplier portal as normal
"No tender requested from suppliers"
The "Submit tender" function is hidden on the Tarjouspalvelu supplier portal because this stage only involves suppliers familiarising themselves with the content without receiving any responses/tenders from them
The notification will only be published for the supplier who were selected in the participation application phase for inclusion in the negotiated procedure. The selected suppliers will be sent an email with a direct link to the negotiation round. By following this link, suppliers are taken to the supplier portal, where they can log in and then view the information about the negotiation round.
Negotiation round vs switching to the actual tendering round
On the Rounds tab, select whether you want to begin a negotiation round or proceed to the actual tendering round.
The Rounds tab enables you to see previous rounds (participation round and negotiation rounds)
Select Begin a new negotiation round
Select whether to use a negotiation round template:
Use the notice from this round as a template
Select a different template
Empty template
OR
Select Begin an actual tendering round
Select whether to use a tendering round template
Use the notice from this round as a template
Select a different template
Empty template
Step 3: Call for tenders
Select a template for the call for tenders:
Use the notice from this round as a template
The invitation to participate is copied as a template for the call for tenders
Select a different template
Use the search form to select the call for tenders that you wish to use as a template
Enter your search term into the window and click the Enter button
Empty template
The call for tenders editing view will open with a blank form
The notification will only be published for the suppliers who were selected in the participation application phase for inclusion in the tendering round. The selected suppliers will be sent an email with a direct link to the call for tenders. By following this link, suppliers are taken to the supplier portal, where they can log in and then submit tenders as normal.
Article Ref: 250920250931