Bid opportunities

Cochrane has standard purchase order terms and conditions that are applicable to all purchase orders and purchases, unless different terms and conditions are listed in the procurement request.

Purchase order terms and conditions

The Procurement Department oversees all purchasing of goods and services from external providers, with departments supplying the necessary technical input and support. All procurement activities follow Alberta’s Municipal Government Act (MGA), applicable trade agreement requirements, and Cochrane’s internal purchasing policy before any contract is awarded.

This procurement framework reflects Cochrane’s commitment to managing public funds responsibly and providing transparent reporting to the community.

The Town treats all bidders and vendors fairly and openly. 

The Town provides a single source of contact for each bid.

The Town accepts questions submitted through our e-bidding platform and reply through the issue of an addendum. This ensures consistent information is delivered to Proponents at the same time, in the same manner.

The Town ensures that all RFx documentation is drafted in terms general enough to satisfy the project specifications and Scope of Work (SOW), but not to the point of only appealing to the capabilities and resources of a particular proponent. 

Most bids meet the requirements of an RPF, but some lack certain components or information, which may lead to rejection. It is important to follow every step and include every specific item in the requirements.

Some common reasons an RFP bid is rejected include:

• lack of evidence of your experience relating to the project
• too verbose; unnecessary padding of the document
• lack of required documentation
• financial errors in budget/financial documents
• lack of appropriate project planning in the estimated time/cost
• proofreading/spelling mistakes
• late submission
• lack of signatures approving that the bid comes from your office

Common reasons a bid is accepted include:

• full evidence of experience, capabilities and resources
• price (competitive, fair and market-base)
• appropriate project planning in the estimated time/cost
• all required documentation provided

Bids usually go through two evaluation steps:

1. Checklist of required inclusions requested in RFP
2. Evaluation against weighted criteria

Weighted criteria can usually be broken down into key areas: planning/execution approach, capabilities/experience and price. The RFP usually lists the weighted criteria, including relative weightings. The evaluation criteria will be different for each project, so do not rely on past RFPs to determine your potential for success.

The final award is determined on final scores in both steps of the evaluation process.

Cochrane treats all proponents fairly. We review submissions in accordance with criteria established in the RFP document. We do not consider or discuss additional information about the vendors that is not in the submissions.

Our evaluation takes into account your company’s best project approach, capabilities and resources, pricing, scheduling, and supplemental documentation. The winner who receives the contract will have met the right balance of all these aspects, measured against the weight of each part of the RFP requirements and the evaluation criteria.