Road Surface Treatments - DPS

This tender documentation is significantly flawed, containing critical ambiguities regarding the DPS timeline for new applicants and a complete absence of evaluation criteria.

The tender lacks explicit mandatory exclusion grounds, which is a legal requirement. The potentially misleading duration of the DPS for new entrants, given the submission deadline close to the DPS end date, could also raise transparency and equal treatment concerns.

While the service description is clear, the DPS timeline for new applicants is highly ambiguous. The complete absence of evaluation criteria for joining the DPS is a major clarity flaw, making the application process opaque.

Basic information is present, but critical details such as explicit mandatory exclusion grounds, financial requirements, and crucially, evaluation criteria are missing. The mention of a single document with 'Required: No' is also unusual.

The absence of evaluation criteria is a severe fairness concern, as it prevents objective assessment. Furthermore, the extremely short effective participation window for new applicants due to the DPS end date significantly impacts fairness, potentially discouraging new competition.

Electronic submission is supported via the provided portal. However, the DPS ending almost immediately after the application deadline for new entrants makes it highly impractical for them to join and benefit from the system.

There is a minor currency inconsistency (£ vs EUR) for the estimated value. More significantly, the conflicting information regarding the DPS duration for new applicants versus the stated end date (March 2026) makes the '48 months' duration misleading for new entrants.

The tender makes no mention of green procurement, social aspects, or innovation focus, resulting in a low score for sustainability.