Corporate procurement

Tendering is a formal competitive bidding process where suppliers compete under strict rules for contracts.

The procedure is used to ensure competition, openness, fairness and accountability.

The council buys a wide range of products, social care and services, through contracts with numerous suppliers.

Register of contracts

You can see which suppliers we have a formal contract with on our contracts register:

Contracts Register - September 2019 (XLSX, 31 KB)

Contracts Register - August 2019 (XLSX, 31 KB)

Contracts Register - July 2019 (XLSX, 30 KB)

Contracts Register - June 2019 (XLSX, 31 KB)

Contracts Register - May 2019 (XLSX, 32 KB)

Contracts Register - April 2019 (XLSX, 31 KB)

Contracts Register - March 2019 (XLSX, 30 KB)

Contracts Register - February 2019 (XLSX, 33 KB)

Contracts Register - January 2019 (XLSX, 33 KB)

Contracts Register - December 2018 (XLSX, 34 KB)

Contracts Register - November 2018 (XLSX, 34 KB)

Contracts Register - October 2018 (XLSX, 33 KB)

Contracts Register - September 2018 (XLSX, 34 KB)

Contracts Register - August 2018 (XLSX, 32 KB)

Contracts Register - July 2018 (XLSX, 33 KB)

Contracts Register - June 2018 (XLSX, 33 KB)

Contracts Register - May 2018 (XLSX, 32 KB)

Contracts Register - April 2018 (XLSX, 29 KB)

The register demonstrates the great diversity of the products and services we buy in.

It shows:

the goods/service supplied under contract
the indicative contract value
when the contract is due for renewal

We’re modernising many of our services and the way they're managed. As part of this process our relationship with external organisations is also changing.

We're now using more external goods, works and services, spending about £270 million a year.

Our aim is to support and encourage:

local businesses
voluntary, small to medium enterprises (SME)
black and minority ethnic enterprises (BME)
not-for-profit and social enterprise organisations

View our current tenders

All of the council’s procurement is managed by the Corporate Procurement Team

Adults and Community Services and Children’s procurement

Decisions made in Adult and Children’s Commissioning often mean that we have to tender services. This means inviting external organisations to show that they can provide specific services at the quality and price that the council requires.

Procurement and contracts review teams

The procurement and contracts review teams support and advise colleagues in the procurement, contract management, monitoring and review of adult and children’s services for social care and supporting people.

They work closely with:

voluntary organisations
private companies
the NHS
other public and local authorities

If you would like to submit a tender

Please follow these steps:

Please follow the instructions outlined in the advert to request an application form and a brief description of the work to be procured.
If you think you can supply the service, return the application form and all information requested by the return date.
You will be advised if your application is successful and a full invitation to tender sent to you.
This will contain full details of the tendering requirements including instructions on how and when to return your bid. You must follow these instructions exactly or your bid may be rejected.

Make sure you do:

follow the instructions
provide all the information asked for
ask if you are in doubt
use the tender reply label

Make sure you don’t:

amend the documents or change the way in which you are asked to provide the information
mark the tender return envelope in any way to show any indication of your name
send in pages or books or unnecessary documentation

If you have any queries please contact us:

Adult Commissioning

adultcommissioning@lbbd.gov.uk

Children's Services

Amisha.Maisuria@lbbd.gov.uk

Oracle iSupplier – Information about supplying goods and services to LBBD

At the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham, we're always looking at ways in which to enhance and improve our working relationship with our existing suppliers.

As a key part of these aims we're currently rolling out the Oracle iSupplier Portal.

This will enable our suppliers to:

view and receive purchase orders
view purchase order amendments
submit invoices electronically
view on the status of invoice approvals and payments

How the iSupplier Portal will benefit suppliers

There are several benefits associated with the portal which should enhance the way existing suppliers transact with the council, including:

the system enables suppliers to view and submit transactions 24 hours a day, 7 days per week
the system is designed around a “self-service” approach, is very easy to use and there are no special hardware or software requirements other than being able to access the internet through Microsoft Internet Explorer or Firefox browsers
the portal permits the online secure and real-time sharing of information between the council and its suppliers
increased transparency through the Purchase to Pay Cycle
reduced processing times for invoices and payments
reduced need to contact the Barking & Dagenham Accounts Payable Team

Signing up to use the Oracle iSupplier Portal is quick and easy.

If you are an existing supplier please complete the iSupplier user form:

LBBD iSupplier Invitation (DOCX, 769.70 KB)

iSupplier user manual

LBBD iSupplier user manual (PDF, 1.3 MB)

For further details contact:

Procurement & Accounts Payable Team

0208 227 2263

isupplier@lbbd.gov.uk

Purchase Order terms and conditions

These terms and conditions will apply unless LBBD specifies different terms and conditions in its tender or quotation documentation or some other contract entered into by the parties.

If different terms and conditions are specified by LBBD those terms and conditions will override the purchase order terms and conditions and will apply instead of these.

Purchase Order terms and conditions (PDF, 128 KB)

Procurement rules, regulations and procedures

Our tendering processes are regulated by:

European Union procurement directives
our own contract rules

The contract rules apply to expenditure below a threshold set by the European Union.

Generally, all contracts over £50,000 are subject to competitive tender. The contract rules also lay down strict rules for how tenders must be received by us, and how our officers must deal with the tenders received.

There are minimum procedures that employees have to follow when making purchases on behalf of the council. The procedures are grouped into three categories, depending on how much is being spent.

Low value - Class A contracts

For low-value contracts, usually with expenditure of less than £10,000:

employees should always use our corporate contracts if they exist
staff should either place an official order using our online Purchase Order System or use Purchase Cards
employees should try to secure value for money by obtaining and documenting three price quotes, except for incidental items of very low value

Medium value - Class B contracts

For contracts with expenditure of between £10,000 and £50,000, our employees must:

always use our corporate contracts if they exist
obtain at least three competitive quotations and get confirmation in writing of price, goods or service
assess quotations and accept the best-value whole-life price
place an official order with the successful supplier (including the quoted price and terms and conditions) using our online Purchase Order System (unless using Purchase Cards)
ensure where possible that our terms and conditions are adopted, and emphasise that no invoice will be paid unless our official order number is quoted unless using Purchase Cards

High value - Class C contracts

With offers invited for contracts with an estimated value of more than £50,000:

six firms are usually invited by advertisement (or for construction-related contracts through Constructionline)
all contracts with a value of over £50,000 will be exposed to a formal competitive tendering process
contracts that exceed the EU thresholds are subject to the regulations of the European Procurement Directive

Advertising contracts

The council is required to advertise tender opportunities in order to introduce competition and secure best value.

We will usually advertise these opportunities on our Tendering page.

For lower-value contracts below the EU procurement thresholds, we also advertise on the Contracts Finder website.

If there is a niche or specialist requirement, the council will also place an advertisement in relevant trade publications.

EU procurement thresholds

For contracts that exceed the EU procurement thresholds, all purchasing within the public sector must be advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union(OJEU).

These contracts are open to competition across the whole of Europe, to aid the free movement of goods and services in the EU.

When contracts are subject to the EU Procurement Directives, the council is subject to regulations in order to ensure that contracts are awarded in an open, transparent and non-discriminatory way.

The current EU procurement thresholds are:

Services contracts: £181,302
Supplies contracts: £181,302
Works contracts: £4,551,413
Social Services contracts: £615,278

Schools procurement

Most schools in the borough have responsibility for their individual budgets, so they don’t have to use the council’s corporate contracts.

Many schools use the council contracts because they feel that they offer good value for money. Others decide on their own purchasing arrangements.

Educational construction or building services-related work will generally come under the council’s Construction Framework Agreement or one of our building services contracts, such as catering equipment maintenance, or mechanical or electrical maintenance services.

Construction Framework Agreements

Frameworks

“A framework is an agreement with suppliers to establish terms governing contracts that may be awarded during the life of the agreement.
In other words, it is a general term for agreements that set out terms and conditions for making specific purchases (call-offs).” Constructing Excellence.

The council utilises framework agreements to speed up the procurement of capital works and reduces the high cost of tendering for individual projects by:

removing the requirement to advertise projects through the Official Journal of the European Union
removing the need for lengthy pre-qualification processes
promoting early involvement by contractors
introducing mini-competition between relevant contractors
promoting consistency, because the same contractors are able to bid for various projects
reducing the time to undertake the tender process

The procurement of capital construction projects and professional construction consultancy services are predominantly let through the council’s construction framework agreements and are procured and delivered through the council’s Capital Commissioning and Delivery section.

These long-term arrangements (up to a maximum of four years) also allow the council to meet and monitor its targets with regard to:

key performance indicators
health and safety
equality and diversity
environmental targets and carbon emissions
risk management
cost and time predictability

They also give the contractors incentives to offer local labour, training and apprenticeship opportunities.
For further details on the use of these framework agreements please contact the Capital Commissioning and Delivery section.

Capital Commissioning and Delivery

Stephen Howells - Frameworks and Contracts Manager

stephen.howells@lbbd.gov.uk

The council operates five construction framework arrangements for the delivery of capital construction projects:

Major Construction Works - Education and Built Environment (contractors)
Housing New Build (contractors)
Housing Refurbishment (contractors)
Low Value Construction Works (contractors)
Construction Related Professional Services (consultancies)

Major construction works

The Major Construction Works Framework Agreement covers the council’s non-housing construction requirements including education and the built environment and currently consists of two separate lots:

All non-housing construction work with a value between £50,000 and £2,000,000
All non-housing construction with a value over £2,000,000

This framework expired in April 2016 and was also available for access by those other local authorities comprising the East London Solutions Group:

Havering
Newham
Redbridge
Tower Hamlets
Waltham Forest

Housing new build

The Housing New Build Framework Agreement encompasses the council’s new build housing construction requirements and consists of two separate lots:

All new build housing construction work with a value below £2,500,000
All new build construction with a value over £2,500,000

This framework expires October 2019 and is available for access by those other local authorities comprising the East London Solutions Group:

Havering
Newham
Redbridge
Tower Hamlets
Waltham Forest

And additionally the London boroughs of:

Greenwich
Bexley

Plus unitary authorities and councils in the county of Essex.

Housing refurbishment

The Housing Refurbishment Framework Agreement covers the refurbishment of the Council’s housing stock consisting of both Decent Homes work and other housing refurbishment works:

All new build housing construction work with a value below £2,500,000
All new build construction with a value over £2,500,000

This framework expired June 2016 and was also available for access by those other local authorities comprising the East London Solutions Group:Havering;

Havering
Newham
Redbridge
Tower Hamlets
Waltham Forest

Low value construction works

The Low Value Construction Works Framework Agreement will cover the council’s low value general building requirements with a project value between £50,000 and £500,000.

Construction related professional services

The Professional Construction Related Services framework agreement is for the appointment of professional construction consultancy requirements consisting of 10 lots: