Lots
Lots are separate parts of a procurement that can be awarded individually, such as regions, service types or delivery packages. Lotting can widen access to suppliers, but each tender must follow the authority’s stated rules on combinations and award.
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Why authorities use lots
An authority divides a requirement into lots when separate awards may improve competition, access for smaller suppliers, resilience or delivery. A lot might cover a region, product family, service stage or customer group. Each lot should have a clear scope, value, term and award route. The authority can allow a supplier to bid for one, several or all lots, and may cap the number of lots awarded or apply a combination rule if the tender notice explains it.
Under the Procurement Act 2023, the authority should publish reasons when it does not divide a procurement into lots where doing so would have been reasonable and appropriate. Frameworks can also be divided into lots, with estimated values included where known. A lot is part of one procurement; it is not automatically a separate procurement with unrelated rules.
How to decide what to bid
Read the lot description, eligibility, dependencies, pricing schedule and award criteria separately. Check whether experience or turnover requirements are set per lot or across the maximum combination, and whether winning one lot affects delivery capacity for another. Price a lot on its actual mobilisation and management cost; do not assume a multi-lot discount is allowed.
For example, a council may create three geographic waste-collection lots and permit bids for all three but award no supplier more than two. A supplier that bids for all must explain how it can resource the permitted combination. If you bid only for Lot 2, make sure every cross-lot dependency mentioned in the documents is covered in that response.