Interpreting the Central Digital Platform (CDP) in Bidding

Bidders were initially meant to receive information on the Central Digital Platform (CDP) in January of this year. However, delays to the implementation of the platform meant that bidders were required to register as the CDP went live.

Now that the Procurement Act has been in force and the CDP has been in use for several months, we recap the requirements of the CDP, what information is required and how effective it has been for bidders thus far.

What is the Central Digital Platform (CDP)?

The central government’s Commercial Function launched the Central Digital Platform on 24 February, the same day the Procurement Act went into force. Integrated as part of the government’s Find a Tender notice platform, registration on the CDP is mandatory for all bidder organisations and contracting authorities.

Example of CDP requirements in tender pack

As such, if you do not register and provide the unique identifier and share code for the CDP, your tender submission is likely to be disqualified or rejected.

Why is this now a requirement for tendering?

Per the official government guidance, the Procurement Act 2023 legislated for a central, digitised system which facilitates publishing of notices and documents in accordance with new regulations.

As part of the existing Find a Tender platform, the benefits include not only making it easier to search and bid for public sector contracts, but meet the transparency commitments which govern public procurement.

The Central Digital Platform has been designed to:

• Feature a simple registration and identification for both suppliers and purchasing organisations alike
• Store suppliers’ core business details which can be used for the qualification and evaluation process on multiple submissions
• Enable easy management and updating of core information quickly, shared easily between suppliers, eSenders and buyers
• Increase visibility of public procurement opportunities through tailored alerts for relevant tenders to suppliers
• Facilitate procurement notices throughout all stages of the contract cycle
• Capture procurement data and eventually allow the creation of dashboards to support analysis.

What information is required for CDP registration?

The CDP requests similar information to the standard company information previously used to populate the selection questionnaire (SQ). This includes:

• Registered office address, date of incorporation and Companies House and/or VAT number
• Persons of significant control within the organisation
• Previous two years’ accounts demonstrating economic and financial standing, including audited accounts if required by law
• Industry accreditations and general certifications such as ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001, alongside Gas Safe or Care Quality Commission registration.

Consequently, the registration process is not overly burdensome – so long as you have a well-organised bid library, this should take no more than 15 to 20 minutes to complete.

How has this impacted bidders so far?

As with any change to public procurement processes, there have been mixed opinions and impacts stemming from the introduction of the CDP, as outlined below.

Confusion between share code and unique identifier

For each organisation, the CDP will issue two different codes registered to individual organisations involved in procurement. These are:

• Share code: a short string of letters which can be inputted into the Procurement Specific Questionnaire, and is also the title of the PDF version of buyers’ and suppliers’ CDP information.
• Unique identifier: a longer string of numbers and letters which are listed as the Public Procurement Organisation Number (PPON). As the unique identifier isn’t explicitly identified as such in the CDP document, this could lead to confusion for bidders submitting a tender.

As such, careful attention to detail is required to ensure you are responding to what exactly the contracting authority is asking.

Differing requirements for each submission

Whilst some tenders only require bidders to input their share code or CDP unique identifier, others request the full PDF. This requires a close attention to detail as part of the bid management process, ensuring your tender is fully compliant and does not run the risk of potential disqualification or unnecessary post-bid clarification questions.

Potential duplication of information?

Some clients have expressed surprise that the CDP is relatively straightforward, expecting a more complex and complicated process. Equally, they have raised that the CDP is an unnecessary step which results in duplication of information.

The introduction of the Procurement Specific Questionnaire means that much of the information included on the CDP is also covered within the data entry and standard company information within the Procurement Specific Questionnaire.

Bid support and registering for the CDP

Creating an account with the CDP involves two-factor authentication in order to access the portal – as such, it can make it challenging for the Executive Compass team to support with this element, and unlike other bid writing consultancies we do not charge for this as a standalone service.

However, we are happy to discuss registration as part of one of the bid services we provide – normally our bid writing service, where one of our expert bid and tender writers completes the quality element of the submission in collaboration with your subject matter experts.

To find out more about the ways we can support your bid, our sales and marketing team are available for a free, no-obligation quotation at info@executivecompass.co.uk or via telephone 0800 612 5563.