What is a VEAT Notice?

A VEAT notice: what do you need to know?

Have you ever heard of a VEAT notice? If you have, are you wondering how this will affect your business when tendering for work?

Don’t worry, you aren’t the only one. That’s why we created this blog. Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about a VEAT notice.

What is a VEAT notice?

A VEAT notice (Voluntary Ex-Ante Transparency Notice) is published when a contracting authority chooses a different method of procurement. For example, if a buyer awards a contract to a supplier without publishing an open call to tender. This is called a closed tender.

What is a closed tender?

You can only apply to a closed tender if you are invited by the contracting authority. This differs from an open tender, which is made available to any potential suppliers.

Closed tenders are usually issued by for-profit organisations that have considerable knowledge of the suppliers they want to work with.

What happens when a VEAT notice is published?  

As we know, a VEAT notice is published when a buyer chooses a supplier through a restricted tendering process. But what happens when a VEAT notice is published?

After choosing a supplier, the buyer can publish a VEAT notice to allow other suppliers to challenge their decision.

What is included in a VEAT notice?

The VEAT notice needs to include particular information from the buyer. This includes details of:

• The value of the contract
• Who the contract was awarded to
• The reason behind the buyer’s decision.

Why would a buyer award a contract without publishing a tender notice?

The tendering process makes the process of buying goods and/or services fair and transparent. Therefore, when a buyer chooses to award a contract to a supplier directly, there must be a good reason.

Awarding the contract to a supplier based on familiarity or prior experience is not allowed. There must be a valid reason that the named supplier is the only one capable of delivering the contract. This is important, as the buyer needs to justify their decision to issue a VEAT notice.

There are several reasons why a contracting authority might choose a supplier without publishing an open call to tender. These include:

• The choice of potential suppliers is heavily limited due to the niche nature of the products/services required.
• If the buyer considers the contract too sensitive to publish openly.
• A previously advertised tender received no suitable responses.
• The products/services are required urgently, and the buyer doesn’t have time to go through the traditional procurement process. This is more common as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic (for example, organisations were in desperate need of PPE).

All of these are valid reasons for not publishing a prior contract notice. However, if the buyer fails to meet certain conditions, then the contract will be declared ineffective. These conditions include:

• The contracting authority must have a valid reason for not publishing an open call to tender (see above).
• A VEAT notice has been published by the contracting authority, outlining the buyer’s intention and justifying their decision.
• After publishing the VEAT notice, the buyer waits at least 10 days before concluding the contract. This is to give other suppliers an opportunity to challenge the award.

What happens if the buyer’s decision is challenged?

Once the buyer publishes the VEAT notice, other suppliers are able to challenge their decision. But what happens next?

As stated above, the buyer must wait at least 10 days before officially awarding the contract. However, it is more common for the buyer to wait 15 days.

If the buyer’s decision is challenged, one of two things can happen next. Any supplier that challenges the buyer’s decision can attempt to force the holding of a conventional tendering process. If unsuccessful (for example, if the buyer persists), they can seek to have the award set aside in court.

Do you need help with a tender? We can help!  

Have you found a suitable contract for your business but need help writing your tender response?

Hudson Succeed is our bid writing consultancy, offering tender writing services and support to SMEs. Our Bid Writing Team has over 60 years of collective experience and proudly hold an 87% success rate.

Our tender writing services gives organisations of all sizes, at various stages of growth, a chance to succeed with tendering. Hudson Succeed can help if you’re completely new to tendering or aren’t seeing success from your current tendering responses.

Tender Mentor

If you’ve written a tender response and want someone to double-check it for errors, then Tender Mentor is for you. One of our Bid Writers will proofread it for any grammar or spelling mistakes. They’ll also check it’s in line with the specification before you submit.

Tender Writing

If you’ve found the perfect tender for your business, but don’t know where to start – send it our way. Our Bid Team will take care of it all for you, providing you with a full Tender Writing breakdown. They’ll let you know what they need from you and even submit it on your behalf!

Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready programme is designed for those who are completely new to the tendering process. This programme works with you to ensure you have everything in place to tender successfully. The programme also includes bid writing support and a 12-month Discover subscription to a portal of your choice.

Tender Improvement

If you’ve already been tendering for work, but aren’t seeing success, our Tender Improvement programme can help. During the course of the programme, our Bid Writers will assess your previous submissions and supporting documents. They’ll then give you feedback and guidance on how to improve.

Both Tender Ready, and Tender Improvement offer:

• A 12-month subscription to the sector-specific portal of your choice.
• Access to our Global Bid Director and Senior Bidding Professionals with 60 years of bidding experience.
• A dedicated Bid Consultant with the programme, lasting up to three months.
• The development of an organisation-wide bid library. This includes 3 case studies, 5 company CVs and 8 policies.

The business landscape has changed drastically over the last year. As a business development consultancy, we believe it’s crucial to offer businesses sustainable solutions for expansion. That has never been more appropriate than it is today.

Get in touch with our team, for a friendly chat about our services.