# The Local Government (Direct Service Organisations) (Competition) Regulations 1993, Regulation 4: Preparation of bids


(1) For the purposes of this regulation—
“the head of paid service” means the officer desginated by the local authority in accordance with section 4(1) of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, or, where no such officer has been designated, the chief executive or other officer who is responsible for the general management of the local authority;
“relevant operation” means any one of the following operations—
(a) selecting any publication in which a notice is to be published in accordance with section 7(1) of the 1988 Act;
(b) selecting the persons to be invited to tender for the work;
(c) sending the tender documents to the persons selected to be invited to tender for the work;
(d) calculating or estimating any prospective cost;
(e) receiving, opening or evaluating the bid and the contractors' tenders for the work; or
(f) deciding whether the work is to be carried out by one of the contractors or by the local authority through their direct service organisation.
(2) For the purposes of the conditions mentioned in section 9(2)(b) and section 9(2)(d) of the 1992 Act the conduct to which this regulation applies is to be regarded as conduct which has the effect of restricting, preventing or distorting competition or is likely to have that effect.
(3) This regulation applies to any conduct which consists of, or involves—
(a) the undertaking of any work or responsibility with respect to a relevant operation, and, concurrently, the undertaking of any work or responsibility with respect to the preparation of the bid or any functions which the local authority perform through their direct service organisation, by any individual apart from—
(i) the head of paid service and, in his absence, the person authorised to act as his deputy;
(ii) the statutory or non-statutory chief officer who is directly accountable to the head of paid service for the discharge of the relevant operation, and, in the absence of that statutory or non-statutory chief officer, the deputy chief officer who is directly accountable to him;
(iii) any persons who are employed by the local authority to provide legal, financial or other professional advice in relation to the business of the local authority;
(b) giving to the direct service organisation information about the work in addition to the information contained in the notice published under section 7(1) of the 1988 Act, without giving the same information to each of the persons who gave the local authority notice that he may wish to carry out the work;
(c) giving to the direct service organisation information about the work in addition to the information contained in the tender documents, without giving the same information to each of the contractors.

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1993/848/regulation/4 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/local-government-direct-service-organisations-competition-regulations-1993/regulation-4
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.