From Buyers Manual
A Certificate of a Bona Fide Offer is a form that suppliers are required to sign to show the offer they are putting forward to tender and is the true offer that will be available if the tender is won by the supplier. The form is not mandatory, but is mostly used by the HE sector to clarify that the offer is genuine and is not just a competitive offer to push them forward through the tender.
The offers given by a supplier are intended to be competitive but must not be fixed or adjusted in accordance with agreements or arrangements with any other person.
This document is often found confusing but in fact it is a straightforward document that only confirms good tendering practice. The form just asks all suppliers that are invited to tender that the tender they are submitting is genuine and:
• They have not made an agreement with anyone to fix the price or quality of service,
• They have not communicated to any other person unless it was in confidence or the approximate amount of the tender was needed to obtain insurance quotations in preparation of the tender.
It is therefore perfectly normal to expect any supplier bidding for a contact to sign such a document and whilst it is unlikely you would see this form outside of the Higher Education sector, many terms and conditions of contracts provide a clause that will cover the same points, but it is rarely given such prominence.
