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Our procurement processes
We buy goods and services through competition whenever possible, in line with UK government policy and relevant legislation. Our aim is to achieve value for money. This means finding the best combination of quality and whole life cost to meet the our needs.
- For low value procurements we invite written quotations from a number of suppliers.
- For larger procurements, we invite formal tenders.
- We make full use where appropriate of framework agreements.
The steps our procurement process follows will vary according to the anticipated overall cost of the particular goods or services that we need. The relevant thresholds are summarised below. The rules shown below do not apply if we are using a framework agreement to find what we need.
| Anticipated cost of goods and services, excluding VAT | Minimum competitive process that we will follow |
|---|---|
| Less than £2,000 | We will seek at least one verbal quote. |
| Between £2,000 and £5,000 | We will seek at least three verbal quotes. |
| Between £5,001 and £50,000 | We will request at least three written quotes |
| Between £50,001 - £156,442 | We will invite three or more formal tenders. You can find out here about our tender process. |
| More than £156,442 | By law the contract must be advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). |
