Our approach to procurement
Find out about the Council's procurement processes.
Our approach to procurement
The Procurement Strategy outlines our strategic approach to procuring goods, works and services, people's responsibilities, how we intend to manage procurement in the future.
It is intended to regularly review the strategy, to monitor the progress we are making and set out new actions as required.
In addition to the strategy, we have a set of procurement rules, to complement the Financial Regulations and provide guidance to all staff and Members involved with procurement across the authority.
Rules and Regulations
As a local authority, there are regulations at a national and local level that we need to follow. These are summarised below:
National Rules
The principles of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 apply at UK level. These guiding principles being equal treatment, non discrimination, transparency and proportionality. Where the estimated value of a contract is expected to exceed the relevant Public Contracts Regulations 2015 financial thresholds, currently at £213,477 (including VAT) for goods and certain services, and £5,336,937 (including VAT) for public works contracts, they must be advertised on the Find a Tender Service (FTS) website.
Council Rules
The Council has its own contract and procurement procedure rules that regulate how we conduct our business. These rules govern how procurement of different values must be handled. They ensure that the process is based upon fair, transparent and open competition.
Spend Analysis
On average the council spends around £29 million a year with suppliers. In 2020/21 around 42%, just over £12 million of our spend was with local suppliers (we define local suppliers as those with a GL postcode).
Lots of our spend is already under contract, please see our Contracts Register here.