23Award criteria
(1)In this Act, “award criteria” means criteria set in accordance with this section against which tenders may be assessed for the purpose of awarding a public contract under section 19 (award following competitive tendering procedure).
(2)In setting award criteria, a contracting authority must be satisfied that they—
(a)relate to the subject-matter of the contract,
(b)are sufficiently clear, measurable and specific,
(c)do not break the rules on technical specifications in section 56, and
(d)are a proportionate means of assessing tenders, having regard to the nature, complexity and cost of the contract.
(3)In setting award criteria, a contracting authority must—
(a)describe how tenders are to be assessed by reference to them and, in particular, specify whether failure to meet one or more criteria would disqualify a tender (the “assessment methodology”), and
(b)if there is more than one criterion, indicate their relative importance by—
(i)weighting each as representing a percentage of total importance,
(ii)ranking them in order of importance, or
(iii)describing it in another way.
(4)In setting award criteria for the assessment of tenders by reference to lots, a contracting authority—
(a)may limit the number of lots that may be awarded to any one supplier, and
(b)in doing so, must provide an objective mechanism for supplier selection in circumstances where a supplier would otherwise exceed the limit.
(5)In subsection (2), the reference to the subject-matter of a contract includes a reference to—
(a)the goods, services or works to be supplied under the contract, including in respect of any aspect of their production, trading or other stage in their life-cycle;
(b)how or when those goods, services or works are to be supplied;
(c)the qualifications, experience, ability, management or organisation of staff where those factors are likely to make a material difference to the quality of goods, services or works being supplied;
(d)price, other costs or value for money in all the circumstances.
(6)In the case of a light touch contract, the reference to the subject-matter of the contract also includes a reference to—
(a)the views of an individual for whose benefit the services are to be supplied (a “service recipient”), or of a person providing care to a service recipient, in relation to—
(i)who should supply the services, and
(ii)how and when they should be supplied;
(b)the different needs of different service recipients;
(c)the importance of proximity between the supplier and service recipients for the effective and efficient supply of the services.