Procurement Policy 2025 to 2029 - including the Social Value statement - Procurement processes

Our procurement activity must be efficient, effective and deliver value for money whilst contributing to the Council’s vision and strategic priorities. To achieve this, we will:

• collaborate with colleagues in governance, legal and audit to streamline procurement processes and remove unnecessary bureaucracy, making things easier and better for everyone, without bringing undue risk on the Council
• instead of awarding to the lowest priced bid, decisions will focus on the best value for money/most advantageous tender, with consideration given to quality, social value, environmental outcomes, and long-term benefits
• put in steps to ensure routine purchasing transactions are efficient and timely
• challenge the status quo – ‘if we do what we have always done we will get what we have always got’
• seek innovation from suppliers through creativity in tender specification, procurement processes and evaluation models, potentially leading to saving money and improving services
• adhere to risk management processes and complete combined impact assessments, (as appropriate), to support effective tender/ contract management, risk mitigation and ensure priority outcomes delivered within or under budget
• use competition to drive and obtain VFM
• build in social value (and track delivery of outcomes), where relevant and proportionate to do so
• task suppliers to collaborate with us to reduce costs over the contract life cycles
• be innovative and develop competitive markets where they currently do not exist
• call-off from established framework agreements and use collaborative opportunities where they offer best value, efficiencies, reduced timescales and minimise duplication