Questions for lawyers Found 20

I work for a council and I have been asked to sit on a panel evaluating a tender. One of the bidders is owned by someone I used to work with, and I have a personal friendship with them. Do I have to declare it, and what happens if I do not?

Our local council awarded a big roading maintenance contract to one contractor without any public tender, and other local firms are annoyed. Does a council have to tender openly for every contract? I am not sure where to start or who I should be contacting about this.

Our agency client wants to vary our contract to include additional services and reduce payment rates because of budget cuts. We have not agreed, but they say that they can do it unilaterally. Is that true?

We are a construction company thinking of tendering for a large public building project. We understand that there are special contract forms and retention rules. What legal issues should we be aware of?

We submitted a tender for a government contract but were told our bid was non-compliant because one attachment was in the wrong format. We had the strongest technical proposal. Is it fair that we were excluded, and what can we do?

We are a small technology firm, and a government agency approached us about building a system without a public process. Some competitors are complaining. When can an agency lawfully award a contract directly?

We were told we won a tender and started preparing to deliver, but the agency now says it has cancelled the process and will not proceed. We have incurred costs. Do we have any claim? Nobody has given me a straight answer and I want to understand where I actually stand.

I suspect that a rival tenderer was given information about our pricing or the evaluation criteria before the closing date, because their bid seems to mirror ours closely. How do I raise this, and what protections exist against collusion?

A government tender I am reading mentions broader outcomes and asks me to describe my approach to employment, Māori business participation and environmental impact. Is this compulsory and how will it affect my bid?

A contract for services in my region was awarded to a competitor, and I am not sure the process was fair. I would like to see the evaluation reports and communications. Is this information available to the public?