If
you are trying to respond to the OGC Buying solutions OJEU opportunity
reference (08/S 87-118625/EN) please note that participants must
express interest and submit completed pre-qualification questionnaires using the OGC buying solutions eSourcing portal that can be accessed at www.ogcbs.bravosolution.com |
Got a contractual or procurement-related dispute?
Call in the PDRS Mediators.
PDRS is provided by Bip Solutions Ltd with IDRS Ltd
Contractual and procurement-related disputes are time
consuming, expensive and unpleasant. They can destroy
client/contractor or contractor/contractor relationships
that have been painstakingly built up over a period of time
and can have an impact on the supply chain. They can add
substantially to the cost of the contract, and can nullify
some or all of its benefits or advantages.They can also have
an impact on value for money.
It is therefore in everyone's interest to work at avoiding disputes in the first place.
Inevitably, however, disputes do occur and when they do the importance of a fast, efficient and cost-effective Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) procedure cannot be overstated.
Why PDRS?
It is sensible to ask a neutral organisation to provide ADR through the use of mediation. PDRS is the first service specifically designed for the public procurement marketplace and is provided by BiP Solutions Ltd, the UK’s leading public procurement solutions provider, and is administered independently by IDRS Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, to which all PDRS mediators are fully accredited.
PDRS mediators are experts in contracting, public procurement processes and practices, and the legal framework within which they operate. Their neutrality, experience and advice will help parties reach a solution more quickly and possibly more fairly, and parties’ savings in time and administration will usually more than offset the cost of PDRS mediators’ involvement.
EU public procurement and mediation
New contract notice proformas for EC Public
Procurement Directive 2004/18 will require
public bodies to provide details in ALL their
OJEU contract notices on their procedures for
appeal and the body responsible for
mediation. PDRS offers public bodies access
to expert mediation, delivered by experts in
public procurement.
In association with IDRS Ltd, PDRS provides mediation to all users of BiP’s Project contract notice creation service. They can easily adopt PDRS as their mediation service of choice by including PDRS details in the Project contract notice global entry fields. They then have the comfort of knowing that experts will deal with any mediation requirements that may arise during the procurement process or subsequent contract period.
Why ADR?
The Government’s objective is to ensure that relationships between buyers and suppliers are non-adversarial. Therefore contracts should contain provision for resolving disputes efficiently and ADR techniques should be used in the first instance in all suitable cases to settle disputes where the other party accepts ADR.
In addition to mediation, PDRS offers arbitration and neutral evaluation services.
PDRS mediation procedure (2007 Edition)
The PDRS mediation procedure is designed to allow parties involved in a procurement related dispute to use mediation as a method of resolving their dispute more quickly, cost-effectively and privately than they could be through litigation or arbitration. It may be invoked by parties who are already in dispute or by reference from the terms of a contract between them.
A PDRS mediation session is informal and the procedure has been designed to assist parties in resolving their disputes economically and more quickly than through the traditional court system or arbitration or through any industry Regulator or other Statutory Enforcement Authority.
The value of this procedure and of mediation in general lies in avoiding or reducing the time, cost and uncertainty of litigation and being provided by experts in the public procurement process parties using the service can be assured of a fair process.