Procurement
Our procurement policies and procedures are summarised below and reflect the guidance of the Office of Government Commerce. For a complete copy of the Standards Board for England's procurement procedures, contact Navin Gokool, Head of Governance and Client Services.
Purchase and contract values
Purchases and contracts with an expected value of less than £4,999 are awarded on the basis of best value in the particular circumstances.
Purchases and contracts with an expected value of more than £5,000 are subject to a full tendering process.
The purchase or contract may be exempt from competitive tendering if:
- it has an expected value of no more than £25,000 and there is no reasonable alternative supplier
- it is extremely urgent (for example, there are issues of public risk)
- we have the agreement of our sponsor department, Communities and Local Government
Selection of suppliers
We will attract potential suppliers by advertising in appropriate media and government publications, and by individually sourcing companies and inviting them to tender. For larger contracts (valued over £93,500), we publish invitations to tender in the S series of the Official Journal of the European Union in accordance with European regulations.
In addition, we are registered with OGCbuying.solutions, which enables purchasing through a range of government frameworks.
Tender evaluation
Tender evaluation is carried out in strict accordance with the objectives and criteria originally outlined at the time the contract was put out for tender (usually in the invitation to tender). A standard matrix is used to compare all tenders, incorporating project targets and objectives, with relevant weightings allocated to each item according to its importance.
On some occasions, shortlisted suppliers will be invited to make presentations providing further information before a decision is reached.
The successful company will be notified as soon as the tender is formally approved. Unsuccessful companies will be notified within seven business days later.
Significant contract awards
- DVD production — Jacaranda
- training services — Capita Learning & Development
- internet services — Mistral Internet
- internet services — TerminalFour
- research — University of Manchester
- print services preferred supplier — Belmont Press
- print services preferred supplier — Cousin
- print services preferred supplier — EC Group
- print services preferred supplier — Pelican Press, JT McLaughlin
- exhibition stands — Protean Design
- conference venues — International Conference Centre (ICC), Birmingham
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