Procurement and tendering

Voorne aan Zee wants the best for its residents, business owners, and visitors. That’s why we’re working to create a municipality where it’s pleasant to live, work, run a business, and stay. We do this through our own organization, but also with the help of our suppliers. This includes, for example, Health under the Social Support Act (Wmo), maintaining public spaces, building a new residential neighborhood, and repairing bridges.

We also regularly hire temporary workers or engineers. The services and products we need vary widely, as you would expect from a municipality like Voorne aan Zee .

Effective procurement

Every year, the municipality of Voorne aan Zee purchases more than 100 million euros worth of services, products, and construction projects. The municipality aims to get the most value possible for this money. That is why professional procurement is a top priority within the municipal organization, with clear and appropriate guidelines.

Assignments

For all announcements regarding national and European contracts issued by the municipality of Voorne aan Zee , please refer to TenderNed.nl. This website is required to serve as the procurement platform under the Public Procurement Act. Would you like to be considered for a contract? If so, you must create an account on TenderNed. The municipality of Voorne aan Zee uses this digital platform for all its procurement processes. All communication regarding a procurement process takes place via TenderNed.

The municipality also uses TenderNed for private contracts. In such cases, specific parties are invited to participate. You will receive this invitation through your TenderNed account. The rules for procurement and tendering are set out in the municipality’s Procurement and Tendering Policy at Voorne aan Zee.

Purchasing and procurement policy

With the purchasing and procurement policy, the municipality aims to:

Purchasing with the best value for money;
Lawful and efficient procurement;
To be a fair, reliable, business-minded, and professional client;
Minimize the administrative burden on business owners and the municipality;
To create as much value as possible for the municipality using the available resources.

Purchasing conditions

As a business owner or supplier, you will encounter General Terms and Conditions of Purchase when doing business with the municipality. To better serve business owners and suppliers, the municipality uses various terms and conditions of purchase. When it comes to goods or services, the municipality usually applies its own terms and conditions of purchase.

For specific contracts, the municipality may also apply other procurement requirements more appropriate to the nature of the contract. For example, there are alternative Requirements for ICT services, outdoor work and engineering services.

Read the procurement terms and conditions

Mandate Decision

Contracts may only be awarded by public officials who are authorized to do so. Whether someone is authorized to award a contract is specified in the municipality’s General Mandate Resolution Voorne aan Zee. As a contractor, you are responsible for verifying that the contracting authority is indeed authorized.

Read the current mandate decision

Contact

To make things easier for you as a business owner—especially if you are not yet known to the municipality—we recommend that you contact one of our procurement advisors. You can reach out to them with questions about procurement and tenders, as well as other related topics. To do so, please call the municipality at 14 0181 and ask for the Procurement Team.

Procurement Complaints Procedure

The Municipality of Voorne aan Zee operates a Procurement Complaints Procedure for parties who have a complaint about the procurement process.

When is there a complaint in a tender?

A complaint is a written submission by a business with an interest in the procurement process in which the business provides a reasoned explanation of the points on which it disagrees with the procurement process or any part thereof. Complaints must relate to aspects of procurement processes that fall within the scope of the 2012 Public Procurement Act. The procurement processes may be European or national.

National procurement procedures also include (multiple) negotiated procurements. Complaints may allege that a specific act or omission in a particular procurement procedure violates statutory provisions or other regulations applicable to that procurement procedure.

Complaints may also be filed regarding actions that violate one or more of the principles of transparency, non-discrimination, equal treatment, and proportionality applicable to public procurement. Complaints may not concern the municipality’s general procurement policy Voorne aan Zee.

When can a complaint be filed?

Not every question about a tender is automatically a complaint. Often, it’s simply a request for clarification or a request for a minor adjustment. Do you have a question about the tender? Please submit it to the municipality as soon as possible at Voorne aan Zee. That way, we can address your question in the Information Memorandum. This also applies if you’re requesting a minor change to the tender documents.

If you disagree with our response in the Information Memorandum, or with the individual pieces of information provided (if any), you may file a complaint with the municipality at Voorne aan Zee. You may do so even if you have not received a response. Please file your complaint as soon as possible so that we can address it while the current procurement process is still underway. If that is no longer possible, we will use the complaint as a learning opportunity for future procurements. A complaint does not halt the procurement process. You may also always take the matter to court. If your complaint concerns the same issue as a pending lawsuit, we will wait to address the complaint until the court has issued its ruling.

Who can file a complaint?

Only businesses that have an interest in a specific procurement procedure conducted by the municipality of Voorne aan Zee may file a complaint. Interested parties include businesses that have a direct interest in being awarded the government contract. The following groups may be considered interested parties:

Interested entrepreneurs
(potential) bidders and applicants
Subcontractors of (potential) bidders and candidates
Trade associations and advisory centers for entrepreneurs who are members of a trade association

Subcontractors may file a complaint, provided that the complaint does not concern the relationship between the general contractor and the subcontractor, or vice versa. Anonymous complaints are not permitted. However, an industry association may file a complaint in its own name regarding a specific bidding process if that complaint is shared by one or more businesses in the industry.

Procedure

1. Complaints may only be submitted in writing (by mail or email), stating the name and address of the complaining business, the date, and the tender reference number. The written complaint must also clearly state the nature of the complaint and how the business believes the issue could be resolved. In writing: Municipality of Voorne aan Zee; Attn: Tender Complaints Office; Postbus 13, 3220 AA Hellevoetsluis. Email: inkoop@voorneaanzee.nl.
2. The Complaints Office will immediately confirm receipt of the complaint.
3.    The Complaints Center will then investigate whether the complaint is justified, using any additional information provided by the contractor and its own supplementary data. The Complaints Center will begin this investigation as soon as possible, proceed with it expeditiously, and take into account the schedule of the procurement procedure.
4.    If, following the investigation by the complaints office, it is concluded that the complaint is justified or partially justified and that corrective and/or preventive measures must be taken, the contractor in question will be notified in writing as soon as possible. The other (potential) bidders/candidates will also be notified. Depending on the stage of the procurement process, the procurement contact person may communicate the measures to the parties involved in the procurement at the same time that the complainant receives notification. This is to prevent any preferential treatment of parties.
5. If, following the investigation, it is concluded that the complaint is unfounded, the complaint will be rejected with a statement of reasons, and the contractor will be notified of this in writing.
6.    At the contractor’s request or on its own initiative, the Complaints Desk may propose that the complaint be submitted to the National Committee of Procurement Experts for mediation or advice before the Complaints Desk renders a decision on it.
7.    Following the decision—or in the absence of a timely decision—a business owner may submit the complaint to the National Commission of Procurement Experts.

Reference in tender documents

For each tender, the municipality of Voorne aan Zee specifies Voorne aan Zee the tender documents where potential complaints may be filed. For the remainder of the procedure, the tender documents refer to the most current Tender Complaints Procedure, which can be viewed on this page.