Published 17 March 2026 by eSourcingData
A mini-competition, or further competition, is how you award a specific contract to suppliers already on a framework. Done well it is fast and compliant, done carelessly it breaches the framework terms and invites challenge. This guide covers how to run one within the rules of the framework you are calling off from.
First check how the framework awards call off contracts. Some allow direct award against set criteria, some require a further competition, and some permit either depending on the situation. You must follow the framework's own rules, so read them before you plan anything, because the framework agreement is the law of your call off.
Confirm your requirement genuinely falls within the framework's scope, both in what it covers and in value. Buying something outside the framework's scope through a call off is a serious compliance failure, no matter how convenient the route seems.
Identify which lot applies and which suppliers are appointed to it. Your competition runs among the suppliers on the relevant lot, not the framework at large.
Invite all suppliers on the relevant lot capable of meeting your requirement, unless the framework rules explicitly permit a narrower selection. Cherry picking a favoured few without a basis in the framework terms undermines the fairness the framework was set up to guarantee.
Where the framework allows you to shortlist, apply the shortlisting method the framework specifies and document how you applied it. A transparent, rule based selection is defensible, an arbitrary one is not.
Give every invited supplier the same information at the same time. The equal treatment principle applies to mini-competitions just as it does to open tenders.
Your award criteria for the mini-competition must sit within the criteria the framework established. You can refine and weight them for your specific requirement, but you cannot introduce entirely new criteria the framework did not contemplate. Staying within the framework's parameters is what keeps the call off compliant.
Publish the criteria, weightings and scoring approach to the invited suppliers before they respond, exactly as you would in a standalone tender. They need to know how their responses will be judged in order to respond well.
Set a proportionate timetable. Mini-competitions are meant to be quicker than full procurements because qualification is already done, but suppliers still need reasonable time to prepare a considered response.
Evaluate the responses against your published criteria using the same disciplined approach you would apply anywhere, with independent scoring followed by moderation to an agreed consensus. Being on a framework does not lower the bar for fair, evidenced evaluation.
Record the rationale for each score and for the overall award decision. If a losing supplier queries the outcome, your contemporaneous reasoning is what demonstrates the mini-competition was run properly within the framework rules.
Award the call off contract to the supplier whose response is most advantageous under your criteria, then confirm the award to all participants with clear feedback on the outcome.
Check whether the value of your call off triggers a publication requirement, such as a contract award notice, and publish accordingly. Transparency obligations do not disappear simply because you procured through a framework.
Keep the full record of the mini-competition, from the invitation and criteria through evaluation to award, alongside your reference to the framework it was called off from. This links your specific contract cleanly to the framework authority behind it.
Note any lessons for next time. Frameworks are used repeatedly, so small refinements to how you run further competitions compound into faster, cleaner call offs across your pipeline.
Run further competitions without breaching framework terms
eSourcingData structures your mini-competition against the framework rules, keeping criteria in scope, evaluation moderated and the whole call off auditable.
See eSourcingDataWhat is a mini-competition?
A mini-competition, or further competition, is a process to award a specific contract among suppliers already appointed to a framework, run within that framework's own award rules.
Do I have to invite every supplier on the framework?
You invite all capable suppliers on the relevant lot unless the framework rules explicitly allow a narrower selection using a specified method that you then document.
Can I use new award criteria in a mini-competition?
No. Your criteria must sit within those the framework established. You can refine and weight them for your requirement, but you cannot introduce criteria the framework did not contemplate.
Do I still need to publish anything?
Possibly. Depending on the value of the call off, a contract award notice may be required. Framework procurement does not remove all transparency obligations.
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