Welcome to the procurement section of our website. You can find out here about the procurement processes we follow when purchasing goods and services.

We spend around £5 million a year on goods and services for the around 230 people who work at our headquarters in Birmingham and our small office in London. This ensures that our staff have the tools necessary to do their jobs effectively – from stationery and office cleaning to professional services such as audit and regulatory consultancy. Find out more about what we purchase.

In making purchasing decisions, we comply with the legal and policy framework that governs public sector procurement, and seek to follow best practice. A small team, part of our Corporate Services Division, manages all of our purchasing.

Some important things you may wish to note:

• We do not operate a preferred supplier list. Instead, we acquire goods and services through competition (written quotations or tenders) unless there are compelling reasons not to do so.
• We may use framework agreements where appropriate to the purchases being made.
• We do not procure for the water companies, or promote goods and services to them.

We are working to encourage wider participation in procurement exercises from small and medium enterprises (SMEs). For example, we publicise lower value opportunities widely using the Supply2Gov portal.

If you wish to be considered for future contract opportunities please contact us by email at procurement@ofwat.gsi.gov.uk, specifying the services you can provide. Any general enquiries should be directed to this email address.

If you wish to find out more information about supplying public sector organisations we have some useful external links and information.