Step 4: Get quotes or tenders

Selecting the right person to work on your war memorial is important in many ways - you want to be confident they will undertake the works appropriately and respectfully. But you will also be keen to ensure it is competitively priced and, if applying for a grant, in-line with WMT's requirements.

You should read step 3 and step 4 together as they are closely connected.

This page provides advice on what your contractor, and if appropriate your conservation-accredited professional advisor, will need to provide you with and how you should assess the quotes and tenders receive you receive.

As many of the grants awarded by WMT involve public money (e.g. from government, local authorities etc.) it is essential that value for money can be clearly demonstrated and the processes used to select a contractor or professional advisor are non-discriminatory, transparent and proportional to the contract being offered. This is especially important where public money represents more than 50% of the total project costs as these are deemed ‘subsidised contracts’.

This means when choosing the contractor or professional advisor to work on your project you must follow the approaches laid out in WMT's guidance. This will ensure you achieve ‘best value’ for your project and are in-line with the regulations around procurement. Failure to follow these steps is likely to mean your grant application is rejected.

WMT appreciates this can look difficult and daunting at first but approached correctly it will help you manage your project and ensure the best outcome for your war memorial. WMT is always happy to discuss issues so do not hesitate to contact us.

Getting quotes and finding the right contractor or conservator

The wider term for this part of your project is the procurement stage - when you get prices for work and choose who will undertake it.

To help you understand what you need to do read

WMT's helpsheet - Procurement - Getting quotes and finding the right contractor or conservator

This helpsheet covers:

your total project cost - this cost will influence what you need to provide as part of your application. Requirements are proportional to the project cost - the larger and more expensive the project, the bigger the procurement requirements
the difference between quotes and tenders
selecting a contractor or conservator - in conjunction with step 3
selecting a conservation-accredited professional advisor if your project is more than £10,000 (£20,000 in Scotland) - in conjunction with step 3
specifying the works. WMT's helpsheet on Preparing a Method Statement may also help
factors in choosing your contractor or conservator - Price or Price-Quality
what you need to do for your project

then read the relevant Appendix:

Procurement - Appendix A: Total project cost less than £5,000 (exc. VAT)
Procurement - Appendix B: Total project cost between £5,000 and £10,000 (£20,000 in Scotland) (exc. VAT)
Procurement - Appendix C: Total project cost over £10,000 (£20,000 in Scotland) (exc. VAT)

Supporting literature

To support the helpsheet and appendices WMT has prepared some example letters and evaluation templates which you can use. You should read the helpsheet and relevant appendix before looking at these as they will not make sense until you understand what they are for.

Mainly for projects less than £10,000 (£20,000 in Scotland):