Rural grants: competitive tendering guidance

This guidance applies to competitive tendering activities from 13 August 2024. It replaces Rural Development Programme and European Maritime and Fisheries Fund 2014 to 2020: technical guide to competitive tendering and public procurement.

This document will guide you through the competitive tendering procedures that you need to follow when you submit: 

• an expression of interest
• a full application, or 
• a claim for funding 

under any Welsh Government administered schemes that state this guidance as a requirement. 

Competitive tendering is a requirement for projects benefiting from Welsh Government grant support. It ensures that projects deliver value for money and that project costs are reasonable.

The level of competitive tendering required for each item is based on the final invoice price (exclusive of VAT), as set out below:

Less than £1,000: no written quotes required

Where small items with a value of less than £1000 are necessary for project delivery no written quote is required. Please check the specific scheme rules on whether such items are eligible and how you should present the costs. Also note that the rules on Conflicts of Interest still apply and you must declare any potential conflicts before purchasing any such items.

£1,000 and more, but less than £5,000: one written quote

For items with a value of £1000 or more, but less than £5,000 one written quote should be obtained in advance.

£5,000 and more: three written quotes

For items with a value of £5,000 and more, three written quotes should be obtained in advance.

You must put in place a process which assesses the quotes on an impartial basis. You should not treat any supplier more favourably than another. This means that you should give all suppliers the same information, and the same amount of time to provide their quotes.     

You should not split items to avoid the competitive tendering requirements. For instance, if you needed 10 items that each cost £999 from the same supplier, then that should be supported by three written quotes as the total costs are greater than £5,000 combined.

You must retain evidence that demonstrates which suppliers were approached and asked to quote; this must include the date they were contacted and who in the company the enquiry was sent to.

The quotations must contain all the necessary information for us to identify the supplier, including:

• trading title 
• address
• contact details 
• company registration number (VAT number if applicable)

You must declare any perceived or actual conflicts of interest between you and the suppliers asked to provide quotes. You must also explain the issues in the competitive tendering supporting documentation.  Examples of potential conflicts of interests are quotes from members of your family, or businesses that you have an interest in. 

Where conflicts potentially exist, you must take mitigating action(s). You must document this and have it available on request by Welsh Government.  If you fail to declare a potential conflict, this will result in full recovery of funding related to that purchase.

There may be rare occurrences where you are unable to obtain three quotes, such as highly specialised works/services. If you believe there are fewer than 3 suppliers available to you, you should contact RPW Online before entering into any agreement to seek advice/approval for a lower number of quotes. 

If the work is not specialised, but you are struggling to find suppliers who are willing to provide quotes you should retain detailed evidence of who you have requested quotes from, and when. 

Sell2Wales is primarily for Public Sector buyers. However for large purchases, or where beneficiaries are struggling to obtain quotes, beneficiaries may also use Sell2Wales.

Full details about the services available and how to register on Sell2Wales.

Quotations received must be considered fairly. You must record the reason(s) why you chose a particular supplier and retain that information.

We would expect you to select the cheapest quote. If, in exceptional circumstances, you do not use the cheapest of the three competitive quotes you must provide a written explanation setting out the rational and reasons why the selected supplier has been chosen. Welsh Government may cap the grant to the value of the lowest quote.

You are responsible for ensuring that:

• the competitive tendering process is followed correctly and fully documented
• the documentation is retained and available upon request 

There is a significant risk the grant could be recovered in full or in part if:

• the competitive tendering process is not followed correctly
• supporting documentation is not retained