Modelling qualification phase

[timgdavies]

We have been reviewing the current proposal which asks for the qualification phase to be modelled using a relatedProcess with it's own tender and award section.

This introduces complexity as it means that the PPP framework disclosures are split across two contracting processes.

It is then not clear which process key documentation should be attached to.

We are considering remodelling this so that:

• A qualification section is added to the release (alongside tender etc.)
• qualification, qualificationUpdate and shortlist release types are added to the releaseType codelist.
• An optional qualificationBids section is included also.

Information on qualified bidders would then be captured in the parties array with tags to indicate the organisation status.

The process would then run something like this:

n	Release	Sections completed	Information provided
1	planning	planning	Background documents etc.
2	planning	planning, qualification, tender	Details of the proposed procurement methods
3	qualification	qualification	Invitation to qualify
4	qualificationUpdate	qualification	Any documents from enquiries period during qualification
5	shortlist	qualification, parties, qualificationBids (optional)	A list of shortlisted bidders added to parties
6	tender	tender	Tender information
7	award	award	Award information
8	contract	contract	Contract information
9	implementation	contract/implementation	Implementation information

[timgdavies]

If we go this route, we need to check our terminology around terms such as 'qualification' and 'shortlist' to make sure we don't exclude particular methods.

We also need to identify how this approach would apply to framework contracts in main OCDS. Would this become an optional way of doing frameworks also?

[duncandewhurst]

There is a draft extension here which adds a qualification section between planning and tender.

@timgdavies currently the extension re-uses the existing tender object, however I think we'll need to create a qualification object to:

• Update field descriptions within the tender object so they make sense in the context of a pre-qualification
• Remove fields which aren't applicable to a pre-qualification, e.g. value, items etc.

I'm not sure this approach would work for frameworks as there would still only be a single qualification and tender, so you wouldn't be able to model the one-to-many relationship between the single contracting process to set up a framework agreement and many call-offs which result from it.

I've added a note to the frameworks issue in the main standard repository to follow this up though.

[duncandewhurst]

The draft qualification extension has been updated.

This update introduces a new preQualification object, based on the existing tender object with updated field titles and descriptions. The following fields from the tender object have been removed from the preQualification object:

• preQualification/items
• preQualification/minValue
• preQualification/value

The following guidance will be included in the documentation for the extension:

A preQualification release may provide information about the future tender in the tender section of an OCDS release, for example the items to be procured or the value of the tender. During the pre-qualification process preQualification.status should be set to active and tender.status should be set to planned.

The extension also introduces a preQualificationStatus codelist, using the same codes as the tenderStatus codelist, with updated descriptions:

code	title	description
planned	Planned	This pre-qualification has been proposed, but is not yet taking place.
active	Active	A pre-qualification process is currently taking place.
cancelled	Cancelled	The pre-qualification process has been cancelled.
unsuccessful	Unsuccessful	The pre-qualification process is unsucessful.
complete	Complete	The pre-qualification process is complete.

We are seeking feedback on:

Whether the following fields are applicable to a pre-qualification phase, currently these are included in the preQualification object:

• procurementMethod / procurementMethodDetails / procurementMethodRationale - would this always be open for the qualification stage?
• awardCriteria / awardCriteriaDetails- the current awardCriteria codelist doesn't make sense in the context of a pre-qualification process.
• hasEnquiries - is there a need for this data about the qualification stage?
• eligibilityCriteria - the pre-qualification stage defines the eligibility for bidders to participate in the tender. Is a pre-qualification always open or could there be restrictions on those able to participate in this stage?

Whether the following fields need to be renamed:

• qualification.awardPeriod - would qualification.selectionPeriod be appropriate?
• qualification.numberOfTenderers and qualification.tenderers - would qualification.respondents be appropriate?