Provision of Items of School Uniform for Merrill Academy, Derby

Derby College Procurement Department are undertaking this tender exercise on behalf of Merrill Academy.

Merrill Academy is a secondary school with a sixth form for students 11–19 years of age, located in Alvaston, Derby.

The aim of the Academy is to engage a reliable supplier to provide affordable, good quality pupil uniforms in a timely manner.

Additional information: E-tendering is a suite of collaborative, web-based tools that enable procurement professionals and economic operators to conduct the strategic activities of the procurement lifecycle over the internet. It provides a simple, secure and efficient means for managing procurement activities, reducing time and effort required for both buyers and economic operators.

The Academy uses an e-tender system provided and hosted by In-Tend Ltd. In-Tend Ltd is a University of Sheffield subsidiary organisation which provides procurement services to public and private sector organisations.

The economic operator’s attention is drawn to the Step by Step Supplier Guide which explains how to register on the system and ultimately manage the procurement process from an economic operator’s perspective.

The Step by Step Supplier Guide is provided with the suite of tender documents associated with this tender, but can also be downloaded from the In-Tend website by following the instructions below:

Economic Operators wanting to take part in this tender process must register on the In-Tend system and manage the process via this system.

All tender submissions must be returned via the In-Tend system, using the ‘My Tender Return’ section of the website. The Academy is unable to accept tender submissions in hard copy format or via fax or email. Tender submissions received in this manner will be disqualified from the tender process.

Economic Operators should note the following:

• It is the economic operator’s responsibility to ensure that a copy of ALL documentation is retained by the operator prior to any submission.

• Ensure that no attachments uploaded to the e-tender system possess any software virus that prevents the Academy opening the documents post-deadline. Ensure also that any software media / file types used are commonplace to the Academy (e.g. Word, PDF, Excel) and that file types are not corrupt when uploaded. It is always recommended to present documents in a PDF format to avoid such issues. The Academy reserves the right to disqualify any tender submission which cannot be opened (for the reasons discussed) post-deadline.

• It is the economic operator’s responsibility to maintain an ‘active’ tender account throughout the process. Accounts tend to become inactive if an operator mistakenly keys-in an incorrect password several times. It is not the responsibility of the Academy to monitor the status of tenderer accounts. Please be aware that any tender communications may not be available to view if an account is inactive. In the first instance, please contact In-Tend Ltd direct to get the account re-instated. It is required that the economic operator regularly checks the status of their tender accounts during a procurement. The Academy is not responsible for any missed communications (or the consequences) due to inactive accounts.

• All technical queries regarding the e-tender system should be directed to the In-Tend Support Desk, the contact details of which are as follows:

Is a Recurrent Procurement Type? : Yes https://in-tendhost.co.uk/fe/aspx/