At Mercell, we’re working hard to make the tendering process easier, always improving our products and services to help you work smarter, not harder. In May, we rolled out some new updates for Mercell Tendering, improving search filters and showing you why your matches are the most relevant to you.
Let’s dive into the updates:
- Additional support for UK Notices:
- UK 13 & 14 - Dynamic Market
- UK Dynamic Market - Create UK4 with internal competition
- Open Framework support for UK markets
- Extended department support
- Smaller improvement(s)
- Discover the updates today
Additional support for UK Notices
A new procedure called Dynamic Market has been implemented in the UK per the new UK regulation. This is similar to the Dynamic Procurement System (DPS) used in the EU, under a different name. For the UK market, this feature will be called Dynamic Market in Mercell Tendering and the Supplier Portal, and we’ve now added support for this
Creating a dynamic market starts with creating a UK13 Dynamic Market Intention Notice. Suppliers can start applying for the dynamic market after this has been published.
After accepting a supplier, a buyer publishes a UK14 Dynamic Market Establishment Notice. After which the buyer is able to start creating call-offs from the dynamic market.
This is how Mercell Tendering can help you
- Creating a dynamic market starts with creating a UK13 Dynamic Market Intention Notice in Tendering, which is used similarly as a DPS. You can then start applying for the dynamic market after publishing this notice.
- After accepting a supplier, a buyer publishes a UK14 Dynamic Market Establishment Notice. When someone publishes a UK14 the Dynamic Market is moved to the procurement stage and internal competitions are allowed.
- When creating an internal competition (call-off) from a dynamic market, the system should then create a UK4 notice, which can then be filled in and published to FTS.
Here’s why it matters to you
Being able to publish any form required by UK legislation will enable you to publish all notices supported by the MeForms solution. This update makes the solution compliant to offer a publication method for all relevant forms.
Open Framework support for UK markets
Under the new UK regulations, Frameworks are changing to allow you to reopen frameworks at any time during the tender process. The new procedure is called Open Framework, and allows you to re-open the framework for suppliers to apply to it when the framework has been established. When you re-open the framework you should be able to advertise about it in FTS, but this also requires you to publish a new UK4 tender notice.
This is how Mercell Tendering can help you
- Buyers are now able to reopen an established framework and create, edit, and publish a new UK4 Contract Notice to FTS about it
- When the framework is reopened, new suppliers can submit bids to it in the Supplier Portal
- When the framework is reopened, no new mini-competitions can be started. Published mini-competitions can run normally
- Buyers can choose if suppliers must re-submit their bids
Here’s why it matters to you
Support for the new Open Frameworks procedure allows us and you to be compliant with the UK Procurement Act of 2023.
Extended department support
Mercell Tendering allows you to create an organisation hierarchy in user management, but the current version of the platform gives all users of an organisation the ability to view all tenders created for the organisation. From a visibility perspective, this isn’t a desired outcome for bigger organisations. Unless given permission, users in different departments shouldn’t be able to see tenders from other departments. It can cause unnecessary clutter and confusion for people, so we want to attempt to mitigate this.
This is how Mercell Tendering can help you
- Department support and organization hierarchy is being implemented in Mercell Tendering.
- Each department functions separately from others within the same organisation.
- Users from different departments can’t see tenders from other departments.
Here’s why it matters to you
This change gives bigger organisations who require it comprehensive access and information management. It will also make Mercell Tendering easier to use for those who don’t use the platform as much as others.
Smaller improvement(s)
- Buyers can now choose, per tender, if they want suppliers to view tender material without registering and logging in to Mercell Tendering
Discover the updates today
Experience streamlined tendering. Log in now and explore the improvements. Discover the benefits for yourself.
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