Our Approach to Procurement

We aim to achieve best value in all our procurement activities.

Our procurement strategy

You can download the latest procurement strategy below.
PDF  Procurement Strategy - 14/03/2007 : 39Kb

The majority of procurement staff are located in their respective service areas, undertaking service specific procurement.

Some act as lead department, letting corporate contracts on behalf of the whole authority e.g. building cleaning and grounds maintenance.

Our approach to procurement is influenced by :-

• Best Value

  Since April 2001 all local authorities have been subject to the duty of Best Value. Best Value, requires us to review and continually improve the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of our services. To do this, we must ensure that the way we deliver our services is based on the opinions of our customers and that they are assessed against the performance in relation to other providers. Also, just because a contract has been previously let by tender doesn't mean it will be automatically re-let that way.

  Best Value requires us to conduct a full appraisal of all possible options for service delivery, thus ensuring that the service is delivered by the organization, public, private or voluntary sector, that is best able to meet these standards. If, following that review, the decision is taken to outsource service provision through a tendering procedure, then we have a duty to ensure that the contract demonstrates Best Value and continuous improvement. We recognise that alternative service providers can often add value to the process based on their own expertise and experience and we will work to draw this out via our contractual arrangements.

• Rules and Regulations

  As a local authority, there are regulations at a European, national and local level that we need to follow. These are summarised below:

  • European Rules

    European Procurement Directives promote non-discriminatory and transparent competition and stipulate timescales that must be observed. Where the estimated value of a contract is expected to exceed the relevant EC financial threshold, currently at £154,477 for goods and certain services, and £3,861,932 for public works contracts, it must be advertised in the Official Journal of The European Union (OJEU).

    This is an invitation to potential providers to formally register their interest. Following evaluation of these expressions of interest a tender list is drawn up. Invitation to tender documents will then be sent out that will indicate the evaluation procedure that will be used. Once the contract has been awarded, an Award Notice will be published in OJEC giving brief details of the company selected.

  • National Rules

    Whilst there is no general requirement for local authorities to tender out specified services, we have a duty under Best Value as previously described to ensure our services are competitive and that we aim to continuously improve them.

  • Council Rules

    The Council has its own contract standing orders that regulate how we conduct our business. These standing orders govern how procurement of different values must be handled. They ensure that the process is based upon fair, transparent and open competition.