We are committed to supporting organisations who want to do business with us. We have developed a series of resources that we hope you will find informative and useful.
How do we buy what we need?
The Councils Constitution, specifically, the Contract Procedure Rules set out the minimum requirements and standards that must be followed in the award of all contracts. This is supported by the Procurement Strategy, and our approach to Social Value. The below summarises what the minimum routes to market are as set out in the constitution:
| Value Band |
Total Value |
Required Procurement Activity |
Minimum Requirement for Advertising |
| A |
£0 - £4,999.99 |
Service Led Activity: 1 Quotation to be received in accordance with Rule 6 |
N/A |
| B |
£5,000 - £24,999.99 |
Service Led Activity:
3 Quotations to be received in accordance with Rule 7 |
N/A |
| C |
£25,000 – Regulations Threshold |
Procurement Team Led Activity:
EITHER:
3 Quotations to be received in accordance with Rule 7
OR
Tender in accordance with Rule 8 |
Rule 7: N/A
Rule 8: Contracts Finder, The Chest |
| D |
Regulations Threshold and Above |
Procurement Team Led Activity:
Most appropriate procedure permitted by the Regulations |
FTS Notice, Contracts Finder, The Chest |
Finding Opportunities
When advertised, we publish tender opportunities on the e-tendering portal The Chest. There is a guide to assist you in registering, searching for opportunities, and bidding for work.
It is really important that business use this system and it is also the system used by the majority of the local authorities in the North West of England, so if you register you can receive advert alerts for upcoming contracts, and specify the types areas you are interested in supplying. It’s easy to register and simple to use, but if you are finding trouble using The Chest, you can contact the Procurement Team and one of our expert advisors will help you.
Transparency
We publish information on awarded contracts over £5,000 on the Contracts Register on The Chest.
We publish other transparency data including spending over £500 in our publication scheme.
Supporting Suppliers and Bidders
For lower value contract opportunities, the Council is taking steps to promote those opportunities with local suppliers.
Tendering in the public sector is more straightforward that you would think. However, we appreciate that our world of procurement is not yours. To assist you, we have developed a response to some frequently asked questions that suppliers ask when tendering.
We have also developed a series of useful links which we hope will be of benefit to you when supplying to the public sector.
Social Value – driving added value for our communities
A key objective in our approach towards procurement is to try and get as much benefit for our local communities as possible. We developed a guidance to Social Value to assist you in preparing your bids.