Contract Procedure Rules Normal Procedure

3.  NORMAL PROCEDURE

3.1  These Rules relate to five categories of procurement based on the estimated value of the contract:

a.  £1 to £1,000

b.  £1001 to £5,000

c.  £5001 to £50000

d.  £50001 to £EU Threshold

e.  Over the EU Threshold

3.2  In all instances, goods, services or works should be obtained via the methods outlined below :

a.  in-house services (for example, printing and design, work under a schedule of rates, etc.)

 

b.  established corporate contracts

 

c.  an approved list of suppliers maintained by the Council or a formally approved organisation

 

d.  framework contracts established by National Consortia (for example, YPO, OGC)

 

e.  approved nationally negotiated contracts (for example those arranged by the Office of Government Commerce, Catalyst, Construction Line etc)

 

f.  approved e-procurement solutions

 

g. for low-value purchases, Purchasing Cards can be used provided they are not used with the intention of undermining the use of approved or corporate contracts

3.3  Orders and payments for goods, services and works shall be undertaken in accordance with Financial Procedure Rules.

3.4  Before entering into a contract, the authorised officer must:

a. Be satisfied that a specification (where appropriate) that will form the basis of the contract has been prepared (the specification should be retained on the appropriate contract file held within the service), and

 

b.  Have prepared and documented an estimate of the cost of the contract including, where appropriate, any maintenance and on-going costs (the estimate should be retained on the appropriate contract file held within the service), and

 

c.  For contracts where there is evident risk, and for all contracts over £50,000, produce and maintain a documented risk register for the procurement process and for the eventual contractual relationship. As a minimum this should analyse all risks, identify how the risks will be managed, and the responsible officer(s) as per the corporate risk register standard.

3.5   Before entering into a contract the authorised officer must:

a.   Be satisfied about the technical capability of such proposed contractor; and

 

b.   Ensure that all evaluation criteria have been determined in advance, put into order of relative importance with weightings for each element and published in the tender pack; and

 

c.    Ensure that these Rules and the Code of Practice have been complied with, and that the proposed contract represents value for money; and

 

d.  For all contracts that exceed £50,000, the authorised officer shall undertake appropriate checks to ensure that the proposed contractor has the financial and resource capacity (taking account of contract value and risk) to perform the contract (unless the contractor has already been subjected to a recent satisfactory financial check). Financial vetting shall be undertaken by a designated financial officer, who shall advise on what, if any, security should be provided by the contractor.

3.6.1       Advertising

3.7  All EU notices shall be referred, in advance of sending to the OJEU, to the Procure to Pay Manager to advise on wording.