Contract Register Training Pro Contract Welland Procurement Purpose

Contract Register Training (Pro. Contract) Welland Procurement

Purpose of this document • To understand the importance of the Council’s Contract Register • To understand the benefits of using and updating the Council’s Contract Register • To understand when and what types of contracts should be added to the Register • Learn how to add new contracts and edit the existing ones • Learn how to export the Contract Register and how to prepare user friendly list of all the contracts

What is the Contract Register? • The Transparency Code sets out the need to provide details about contracts; the Council provides this as part of a published Contract Register (the goods and services, values, date started, expiry date, procurement category etc. ) • All individual contracts with a total value (not annual value) of £ 5, 000 and more must be entered onto the Register - one off spend covered by Purchase Orders is classed as a contract, and therefore is within scope of this guidance, and would need to be added on the Contracts Register • The Council uses Pro. Contract to hold an electronic “real-time” Contract Register, which is available to: • The public via https: //procontract. due • north. com/Contracts. Register/Index? p=527 b 4 bbd-5 c 58 -e 511 -80 ef 000 c 29 c 9 ba 21&v=2 Council Officers for amending via https: //procontract. due-north. com/Login

Who is responsible for updating the Register? • Officers are responsible for any/all amendments on live contracts, such as: • Entering details of extensions taken • Amending end dates • Amending £ values • Amending supplier details etc. • Officers are responsible for entering and publishing full details of new contracts (such as quotations, tender processes, exemptions and Framework call offs)

How can the Council use the Register? • Information on live and expired contracts can be exported • It can be used to assist with Freedom of Information requests • Central record for analysing contractual information, to identify opportunities for collaboration and aggregating spend • Can be used as part of pre-procurement work • You can store contract documents, as well as using the “private notes” and “private attachments” functionality to store contract management and performance information

What should go on the Register? • Contracts resulting from a quotation, tender, exemption or Framework call off, where the total value is £ 5, 000 and above • Where the Council calls off from a framework that has been created by a third party (e. g. Crown Commercial Services, ESPO, Scape etc. ) the call-off must be recorded, detailing: • Framework reference number • Framework title and Lot (if relevant) • Framework owner / organisation (e. g. Crown Commercial Services, ESPO, Scape etc. ) • Grants must be recorded on the Contracts Register with notes explaining the arrangement • Service Level Agreements

Logging on to Pro. Contract (Contract Register) • Go to https: //procontract. due-north. com/Login • Enter your email address and password in the boxes • If you have forgotten your username or password you click Forgotten your username or password, a new one will be emailed to you with instructions. • If you are having difficulty logging in please contact Welland Procurement

Navigating to the Contract Register • At the top of the page you will see a menu for Contracts, hover it to see the full menu. To go to the contract register click Contracts register and then the link View register • A list of contracts will be displayed. At the top it shows you what you are looking at. The default view will be of awarded contracts for all Councils that use Pro. Contract (not just your Council)

Narrowing your results • You can narrow (in increase) your results by the following (on the left hand side of the Contract Register) • Organisation: Choose Newark & Sherwood District Council • Categories: You can narrow your results by selecting from standard • • categories. CPV codes are categories used by procurement such as ‘Education’ or ‘Computer Equipment’ Contracts date filter: Find contracts that start or finish between the dates you choose Contract visibility: Choose between contracts that are published as: • private (visible only to people within the Council) • portal (visible to other organisations who use Pro. Contract) • public (visible on the internet to the public) Contract status: Choose Active and or Archived contacts Display contracts past display date: The display date is usually set to match the end date. Choose yes to include contracts that have ended in your results

Searching the Contract Register • A basic search box can be found to the upper right side of the Register. This will search most items such as title, description, but not names. Type in your key word(s) and click Go. Any changes you’ve made to Narrow your results will still apply (i. e. if you have already selected “Newark & Sherwood District Council”, it will only search within the Council’s contracts

Exporting from the Contract Register • You can export from any page that displays the Export to excel or Export to excel (without lot) button. Both methods will export the list in. xlsx format.

Creating a Contract Register Entry • To create a contract, go to the top of the page again and hover Contracts, click Contracts register and then the link Create contract. This will open up a new form to create your contract • Complete the following as described: • Title A short, clear title for the contract. This should reflect what the contract is for without being too generic (e. g. Software and Maintenance, what kind of software is it? ). It must not include the supplier’s name; these details must be recorded in the supplier’s details part of the form • Description Contains information about what the contract is for

Creating a Contract Register Entry continued… • Then click Create Contract; the system will assign a unique “DN” reference number to your contract – please keep a record of this for audit (it is also easy to use in the future for searching!)

Creating a Contract Register Entry continued… • The contract you have just created is shown as several separate sections: • Contract information: update the key contract details • Publication check list: indicates by colour, what parts have been completed in order to publish your contract • Awarded suppliers: lists the suppliers for the contract • Categories: choose categories from a list, relevant to your contract • Private attachments: documents visible only by Council users • Portal attachments: documents visible to other Pro. Contract users at other organisations but not members of the public • Public attachments: documents visible on the public website • To start updating your contract ready for publication, click Edit on the Contract information (the first section, at the top of the screen)

Creating a Contract Register Entry continued… Contracts register settings - Contract information Visibility • Contract visibility: select Publicly Visible by default. Public sector organisations are required by law to publish a list of their contracts. Making it publicly visible will allow people to view the contract on the website • Display until date: the date that the contract will remain publicly visible. Set this date to match the End date of the contract. If there is an option to extend, remember to amend this if the contract is extended Details • Title: will automatically be populated with details you entered earlier • Description: will automatically be populated with details you entered earlier

Creating a Contract Register Entry continued… Contracts register settings - Contract information • Description of geographical coverage: areas where the contract applies i. e. a specific address or region • Estimated total value: refers to the maximum total amount that the supplier(s) stand to be paid over the whole life of the contract including any potential extensions. This includes any part of the contract paid by grant or rebate, not just the budget, that is any money (regardless of source) paid to the supplier as a result of goods, services or works provided as part of the contract. Remember that this is an estimate amount; it does not need to be pound perfect if you are not able to provide an accurate figure and you can update the contract value at any time • Estimated annual value: use the total value divided by the length of the contract (including extensions)

Creating a Contract Register Entry continued… Contracts register settings - Contract information • VAT not recovered: usually the amount is £ 0, ask your financial adviser if you are unsure • Start date: date that the contract takes effect (commencement date) • End date: date that the contract expires. If there is an option to extend, enter the date the contract would expire if the extension was not granted. If at any time you amend the end date remember to also update the Display until date • Review date: date you want the Contract Manager to receive a reminder about the contract coming to an end. Allow sufficient time; the purpose of the reminder is to prompt you to plan winding up of the contract for one off contracts; conduct a contract and supplier review if there is an option to extend; or to plan your next procurement process for reoccurring contracts

Creating a Contract Register Entry continued… Contracts register settings - Contract information • Awarded date: date that the supplier was informed that they had won the contract. If unknown put the start date • Initial contract period: number of months the contract will last for. If there is an option to extend put the initial period only • Framework: select N/A unless the Council is creating its own Framework or DPS Extensions • Extensions available? : if there is an extension available for the contract please select the box Yes, extensions and their details are entered in a later step

Creating a Contract Register Entry continued… Contracts register settings - Contract information If Yes (extension options)… • Total option to extend: total possible number of months you have advertised in terms of extension options (if the contract is for 24 months, plus two optional 6 month extensions, this would be “ 12”) • Available extensions: total number of available extensions (for the above example, this would be “ 2”). Please add separate rows for each extension option. Add required information for your extensions (start date, end date, the length in months for your extension and a brief summary) • Taken Extensions: this will be completed during the contract, once extensions are granted

Creating a Contract Register Entry continued… Contracts register settings - Contract information Process • Process used: select whether the procurement process was an RFQ (Request for Quotation), ITT (full tender process), or Other. If an exemption was granted, select Other and state “Exemption” and the Decision Reference number (or equivalent). If the contract is a call-off from a Framework, select Other and state the details of the Framework • OJEU: select yes if your contract was procured though an EU process (or Find a Tender Service process from 1 st January 2021)

Creating a Contract Register Entry continued… Contracts register settings - Contract information Availability • Central purchasing body: enter the full name of the Council • Department: select as relevant • Internal ID: please enter internal reference number, such as the PO number or the contract reference to help you match your files with the contract register • Use project team primary contact: select No to manually enter the primary contact (Contract Manager within the Directorate) • Primary contact: select Other and enter the relevant person’s contact details (these will be publicly visible)

Creating a Contract Register Entry continued… Contracts register settings - Contract information Availability • Open to other organisations: this would be No as default. Only select Yes if other organisations are able to use this contract, e. g. other local authorities or schools Keywords • Keywords: add up to six keywords, which allows your contract to be found more easily if searched for

Creating a Contract Register Entry continued… Contracts register settings - Contract information Notes • Private notes: can be seen by anyone who has access to the Council’s Pro. Contract account. You can add information that is not covered by the description. If you’re updating a contract it’s useful to put the date, your name and a note of the change(s) you made. This helps avoid confusion in the future. When exported to Excel, this field is hidden from view • Portal notes: can be seen by other councils who also use Pro. Contract, e. g. Derby City Council and Leicestershire County Council • Public notes: can be seen by the public • Click Save changes

Creating a Contract Register Entry continued… Contracts register settings – Awarded suppliers (Decision summary) • Click Edit within Awarded suppliers. You can then either Manage project suppliers (main database) or Manage non-registered suppliers to add them manually (please view next slides) • Only the successful supplier(s) are needed for the Contract Register entry, so the Unsuccessful suppliers can be ignored

Creating a Contract Register Entry continued… Contracts register settings – Awarded suppliers (Decision summary) Manage project suppliers • First check to see if the supplier has already registered on Pro. Contract; click Add successful from central repository and you will see a Supplier search area appear • The Organisation suppliers tab will be selected by default – change this to Central repository. This will allow you to search all registered suppliers on Pro. Contract. Use the filters to the left hand side or the search field at the top to narrow your results

Creating a Contract Register Entry continued… Contracts register settings – Awarded suppliers (Decision summary) • If the supplier is not listed, go back and click on Manage non-registered suppliers (please see next slide for guidance) • If the supplier is listed, tick the box next to the supplier name and click Select supplier(s). It will then ask you to choose a contact from that company to be the main contact. Check the box next to their name and click Select contact(s). It will then ask you if you are sure, click I am sure • Click Return to decision summary • The supplier(s) will now appear in the Successful suppliers area • Click Return to contract register settings

Creating a Contract Register Entry continued… Contracts register settings – Awarded suppliers (Decision summary) Manage non-registered suppliers • Not all suppliers are registered on Pro. Contract. If you are unable to find your supplier click Return to decision summary. Click on Manage non-registered suppliers • To add a supplier click Add new row and complete the details asked for (please see next slide for guidance)

Creating a Contract Register Entry continued… Contracts register settings – Awarded suppliers (Decision summary) • • Company Name: state the full name of the supplier exactly as it appears on the companies house website. This is to avoid suppliers being added to the register under various names, for example BT, British Telecommunications, BT Limited, BT LTD, BT Group etc. Company reg no: as it appears in the Companies House website SME/VCS (Small Medium Enterprise/Voluntary Community Service): if the company is likely to have less than 250 employees select SME. If the Company is a charity or voluntary group select VCS, if both select SME/VCS, if neither select N/A VCS reg no: if the company is a VCS (leave blank if NA) Contact: name and contact details of your contact at that organisation Postcode: of organisation When you’ve added all of the suppliers click Update Click Return to contract register settings

Creating a Contract Register Entry continued… Contracts register settings – Categories • CPV stand for Common Procurement Vocabulary. It is a list of categories that can be used across Europe • Click Edit within Categories • Search for the correct category using the search box. Exact match means that it will look for a category that contains the exact word you enter. Fuzzy search will look for categories that contain similar words • Categories can also be expanded in to a more detailed list by clicking on the + next to the tick box. Select the category / categories you want to add by ticking the box next to them, and then scrolling to the bottom of the page and clicking Select categories

Creating a Contract Register Entry continued… Contracts register settings – Attachments • If you have scans of any documents such as a copy of the signed contracts you can attach it as a private attachment. Please do not use Portal or Public attachments. To add a private attachment click Add attachment • To find the file you want to attach click Add files… browse for and select the file, then click Open, this will add it to your upload list. Do this for as many files are needed. Once you have added all your files to the list click Start upload • Your attachments will be listed under private attachments, if you need to remove any attachments click on the red cross • This can be repeated for Portal and Public attachments where applicable

Creating a Contract Register Entry continued… Publish your contract • Once you have completed these areas, the checklist on the right hand side will display as green. You can then click Preview to preview what your contract will look like when published to the register. If you are happy, click Publish on register to make this publicly visible on the Contract Register

Editing a Contract Register Entry • To edit a contract, find and view the contract you want to edit (as per the instructions under ‘Searching the Contract Register’ within this document), at the bottom of the screen click Edit contract • Amend or update the contract in line with the instructions in this document. You don’t have to un-publish an entry to then amend the detail. When the changes are saved, any amendments are applied straight away • Please make sure to change the Display until date field when you apply available extensions

Things to remember!! • • • Save regularly – Pro. Contract will time out after 18 minutes of inactivity! Always create your contract publically visible The display until date and the end date must be the same Total values and annual values must be accurate Make sure the dates are correct Update extension date and number of extensions if applicable Add separate rows per each extension option Make sure the Central Purchasing Body is the Council Contracts that are extended via an exemption request (due to the original contract not having an extension provision), must be recorded as a new entry on the Register. As part of the new entry, please include details which explain that this extension is related to the original contract (including the “DN” reference number)

Any questions? Please contact Welland Procurement: Amy Myers amyers@melton. gov. uk Paul Williams pawilliams@melton. gov. uk