The OGC centre for eAuctions In November 2009, the OGC established the first pan-Government Centre for e-Auctions with a remit to support and increase the impact of e-auctions across the public sector. The aim of the Centre is to influence over £800m of public sector spend and help achieve savings of over £250m in 2010/11 by coordinating resources, establishing consistent approaches and providing a platform for coalitions. The Centre has been established to: - Build on existing e-auction programmes, to run more and bigger e-auctions, leveraging collaboration where appropriate
- Help the public sector to run each e-auction with the right results every time
- Increase the public sector’s skills and capability in running e-auctions
The Centre for e-Auctions team, working closely with public sector organisations, has conducted in-depth analysis across all commonly procured goods and services in order to build a rolling programme of e-auctions. Please read the ‘Forward Plan for e-auctions’ for more information: The Forward Plan for e-auctions
Should you require further information on any of the e-auctions included in the Forward Plan please contact the Centre for e-Auctions via OGC’s Service Desk.
Link to OGC Centre for eAuctions Website OGC Procurement Policy Note: - How to indicate the use of electronic eAuctions on contract notices In this note you can find information on: To provide clarification for contracting authorities on the appropriate wording to be used in contract notices to indicate that an electronic auction (eAuction) may be used; In the evaluation of tenders to establish a contract or Framework Agreement; or; In the evaluation of tenders as part of a mini competition to establish call off contracts under a Framework Agreement. See full Policy Note
Buying Solutions - eAuction Programme Buying Solutions operates a contract with a leading supplier who offers a hosted, fully managed eAuction service to the public sector. In choosing to run an eAuction through these arrangements, customers eliminate investment start-up costs and secure access to all of the critical components required to run a successful eAuction. Benefits Organisations wishing to maximise their negotiating potential should consider eAuctions. Customer reported benefits include: - Savings over traditional means of negotiation. This is the primary benefit
- A full audit trail for negotiations
- Process efficiencies
Link to Buying Solutions eAuctions pages NEW - Joint Buying Solutions and OGC Aggregated eAuction Programme Calendar
Success Stories in the West Midlands
The first E auction in the Region
Worcestershire County Council became the first Local Authority in the region to eAuction Home-to-School Transport routes when it hosted an event on 9th July.
Working together with BravoSolutions and the West Midlands Centre of Excellence, the eAuction covered Home-to-School Transport requirements for two High Schools in the Malvern Hills region. Two eAuctions were hosted on the day, Special Educational needs (SEN) – mainly taxi’s - in the morning and mainstream bus routes in the afternoon. In total this secured savings in excess of £50,000. eAuction Brings Big Savings for Worcestershire – Again! Worcestershire County Council has continued to take the regional lead on Home-to-School Transport eAuctions and has yet again secured significant savings in the process. Initial indications suggest that the event has secured savings in excess of 30% or in actual cash terms more than £50,000.
eAuction success for Shropshire County Council! Shropshire County Council joined in Worcestershire and Warwickshire council’s success when it held its first eAuction for Home to School Transport on 08th May 2008. The event, hosted by e-Three and funded by the West Midlands Regional Improvement & Efficiency Partnership (WMRIEP), saw 14 routes eAuctioned and secured savings of £312,550 (16%). 
Warwickshire County Council Bids for Success Transport and Procurement colleagues from the region’s Local Authorities, plus the NHS, descended on Warwickshire on 2 May 2008 to witness the County Council’s first eAuction for Home to School Transport. The event, hosted by BravoSolution and funded by the West Midlands Improvement & Efficiency Partnership (IEP), saw ten routes eAuctioned in the Stratford upon Avon area and achieved savings of £26,894 (20%).
East and West Midlands Jointly Fund Home to School Transport eAuction Lincolnshire County Council with funding from both the East and West Midlands Centre's of Excellence achieved savings of 21.50% on their first eAuction of taxi services. Lincolnshire plans to hold 2 more eAuctions before the end of the financial year for buses and SEN routes. " We hope for similar savings from the next 2 eAuctions" (Sandy Carruthers - Lincoln City Council)
Name of authority | Coventry City Council | | Contact | Sheree Wesson sheree.wesson@coventry.gov.uk | | Area eAuctioned | Home to School Transport | | Process followed in brief | The eAuction was facilitated by Bravo Solutions (Buying Solutions framework) through IEWM | | Benefits of using eAuction | Transparent for all suppliers bidding. Encourages competition
Auditable process
Reasonably straight forward process | | Lessons learned | Make sure the decrements are set at the right level to encourage bids without the eAuction being too lengthy
Make sure all the data sent out before the eAuction is accurate, stating any special requirements
Allow adequate time for bidders to be able to prepare bids and the necessary time to ensure all the appropriate driver/vehicle checks are carried out after the eAuction
Don't be put off thinking the process will be over onerous for you and the suppliers | | Savings made | eAuction 1 - annual savings approximately £486k on a £2.6m spend eAuction 2 - annual savings approximately £71,510 (32.87%) per year, based on an original annual spend of £217,564 | | Any Tips | We trialled complete schools with a single supplier and have found it to be very successful
Make sure it's clear how long they will retain the work for
A framework of suppliers was setup first through an EU process ensuring suppliers met a mandatory criteria including holding, where appropriate, an operators license, number of vehicles available, H&S policy and the necessary insurances. The framework also laid out the terms and conditions.
Found it useful for suppliers to complete methodology sheets to show who they were transporting on each route, estimated timings and types of vehicles |
Name of authority | Worcestershire County Council | | Contact | Joe Stock jstock1@worcestershire.gov.uk | | Area eAuctioned | School transport, social services provision and local bus contracts.ICT hardware (Office of Government Commerce) | | Process followed | Worcestershire was the first council in the region to volunteer to take part in an eAuction pilot scheme funded by IEWM. The project is now ongoing and is the established procurement method for all transport contracts at WCC and is self funding.WCC has also taken part in the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) eAuction for ICT hardware, which involved 47 public sector organisations and a total value of nearly £50 million. | | Benefits of using eAuction | From July 2007 to November 2009, 229 contracts were tendered by eAuction, with £2.8 million saved on the anticipated total life costs. End customers were not affected during or after this process. The positive affect on end customers is that the savings made through eAuctions have made it possible to retain existing Transport services that Worcestershire County Council offers. Without these savings some of the routes may have had to be rationalised due to the current costs becoming unsustainable. There are numerous indirect benefits to using eAuctions. eAuctions support small and medium-sized enterprises as they seek to win public contracts. Previously these enterprises have had limited opportunities of being awarded these contracts given the immense complexity of the contracting procedure. The Transport Team use to spend too much time on administration tasks such as dealing with mail, transferring data to spreadsheets, analysis of numbers and double-checking results. The tender process previously once took more than week of calculating and appraisal by officers. Results are now instantaneous with a consequential saving in officer time. We also now have a qualified pool of pre-qualified operators that have provided their details and documents to us prior to any tender exercise. We can confidently use operators from this list for short term or ad-hoc work. One unexpected consequence of the process has been that existing operators have branched out into new areas of the transport market. | | Lessons learned | Frequent communication with Bravo Solution kept the council on track with what was and was not possible. Alun Moore, Bravo Solution Local Government Account Director, commented: “Worcestershire County Council have utilised eAuctions to establish prices against more categories of transport spend than any other client. They have committed to the use of eAuctions to establish their transportation costs over the forthcoming year and have outlined an on-going program of events to regularly access the technology.” | | Savings made | £2.8 million to date | | Any Tips | Worcestershire provided comprehensive step-by-step guides for operators and spoke to any that were having difficulty with the concept. A lot of time was spent explaining the reason for the changes and how the eAuctions would work. Some operators were keen to try the eAuctions and others feared the move to IT based systems. In some instances their opinionschanged after the eAuction. Surprisingly the time taken to support some operators resulted in improved relationships between us, regardless of their views. |
Name of authority | Shropshire Council | Contact | Nigel Denton nigel.denton@shropshire.gov.uk | | Area eAuctioned | Laptops IT (March 2010) | Process followed | Own eAuction through OGC programme
| | Benefits of using eAuction | Achieve better pricing | | Lessons learned | Colloborative EAuctions can achieve good value if for right commodity | | Savings made | total = £61,800 over first 12 months | | Any Tips | choose lots carefully for auction, you need competition, fully brief your providers/market well in advance that this is was you intend doing |
Further West Midlands success stories Worcestershire - Home to School Transport eAuction guidance documents
FAQ's Are e-auctions compliant with the EU Directives?
The correct use of e-auctions is entirely compliant with both current legislation and the new EU public procurement legislative package, which specifically features e-auctions. The European Union (EU) favours the use of e-auctions because of their transparency and strong competitive element.
What does “committed” volume mean?
Committed volumes is the best estimated forecast of the volume of the good or service that a participant requires. It is important that it is as accurate as possible so that the market has good visibility of likely demand, however during the procurement it is made clear to suppliers that it is a forecast, and so may change. Can I withdraw from an e-auction once the procurement has started?
Participants can withdraw from the e-auction up to 48 hours before the e-auction is held. This period is required in order to allow time to inform the suppliers of any changes in the volumes – as this may have an impact on their bid. Conversely additional participants can join the e-auction up to this point. What is the typical cost of running an e-auction?
The cost of running an e-auction varies depending on how the auction is carried out and its complexity and scale.
Joining a collaborative e-auction, with sponsorship from the Centre for e-Auctions, is a low cost way to participate in an auction as we typically provide access to a portal and potentially some standard documentation. This significantly reduces the overhead involved in setting up an e-auction What if a supplier bids a price, which is unsustainably low?
There is provision in the contract stating that, if a supplier submits a bid that is considered too low to be sustainable, the bid can be rejected. This due diligence is designed to protect participants against too aggressive (or unintentionally low) bid that, in the view of participants, put at risk the continuity of the customer-supplier relationship. What if a supplier tenders and does wish to participate in the eAuction itself? If the supplier does wish to participate their tender will be evaluated on the basis that it is their best and final offer (BAFO). The suppliers pricing structure can still be put on to the eAuction platform but will not be adjusted as bids come in thus the supplier runs the risk of being out-bid on the day of the auction. | 
