Procurement

Procurement Office

The role of the Procurement Office is to promote efficient and effective procurement as part of the acquisition of any goods, services and works. We advise the University on all procurement requirements and propose policies and strategies for their delivery. We work with all departments to ensure that value for money is maximised, by disseminating best practice, advising on appropriate management of risk and ensuring compliance with statutory requirements.  The office is also the first point of contact for queries regarding purchasing card transactions.  

Information

EU Procurement Directives Financial Thresholds

Public Contract Regulations

Current Uk thresholds can be found at https://www.ojec.com/thresholds.aspx

EU Procurement Directives Financial Thresholds FAQ's

HEContracts

Please Read The Following Carefully

HEContracts provides you with access to a central repository of contracts and agreements designed to meet some of your more regular purchasing needs.  The various agreements are HE Sector specific in most cases and have been negotiated by a lead Consortia (each working on behalf of the sector for particular commodity and/or service area) or the Higher Education Purchasing Consortium Wales (HEPCW) as appropriate

Please note all data which you access from HEContracts, including but not limited to prices and other commercially sensitive information, is made available on a commercial in confidence basis and must not be divulged to any third party without the permission of the relevant agreement co-ordinator.

Many of the contracts on HEContracts are ‘framework agreements’.  The EU has recently changed the law on call off’s under frameworks; please ensure you familiarise yourself with the framework ‘rules of engagement’ before accessing information from uniBuy. Please see buyers guide for each framework and follow the rules (Please see link below).

Some ‘local’ University agreements are also provided (e.g. Europcar corporate vehicle hire rates).  If end users have ‘local’ standing offers or arrangements with suppliers (which they feel would benefit other Aberystwyth University departments) please contact Julie Woolley, Procurement Assisstant, to arrange the mounting of such agreements onto HEContracts.

Please note that all data held on HEContracts is the responsibility of the agreement
co-coordinator/lead Consortia that facilitated it (other than ‘local agreements) and the Procurement Manager can give no guarantees as to the accuracy of such information, maintenance of which resides with each agreement co-ordinator.  If you do encounter any issues with inaccurate information, you can contact the appropriate agreement co-ordinator directly.

https://www.hecontracts.co.uk/

E-Tendering

An electronic tendering solution facilitates the complete tendering process from the advertising of the requirement through to the placing of the contract for any procurement undertaken through the Procurement Office. This e-tendering is done through the Bravosolution etendering web site. This includes the exchange of all relevant documents in electronic format. The two procedures that can be adopted are explained further:

  • The Open Procedure Doc
  • The Restricted Procedure Doc

Sustainability

The sustainability assessment process is intended to ensure that environmental, social and economic (sustainability) issues are assessed, understood and managed in all key procurement decisions that relate to the procurement of goods (products) & services.

End users are encouraged to complete a Sustainability Assessment Form for purchases over £25k excluding VAT.

Sustainability Risk Assessment for Purchasing Goods (pdf)

Sustainability Risk Assessment for Purchasing Services (pdf)

Tender Control Sheet

The tender control sheet provides a checklist of things to consider when making more major purchases for your Department/Institute.  It is recommended to be used on all purchases over £25,000 excl vat, with the completed form held on file ‘locally’ for audit scrutiny

Tender Control Sheet (pdf)

Single Tender Action

The University appreciates that from time to time there will be a requirement to single source goods and services. In such instances, all applications in excess of £5,000 and up to £50,000 excluding VAT must be sent to the Director of Finance for consideration, using a Single Tender Action (STA) form (Found below). All STAs in excess of £50,000 excluding VAT must be sent to the University’s Procurement Manager who will coordinate and submit for consideration by the Executive.

Single Tender Action (docx)

Request for Quotation

All purchases over £25,000 excl vat as a one off or in aggregate must be advertised on sell2wales. Please complete the RFQ template and return it to the Procurement Office for consideration. If you need any help completing this again please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Request for Quotation Template (Word)

Tender Control Sheet

The tender control sheet provides a checklist of things to consider when making more major purchases for your Department/Institute.  It is recommended to be used on all purchases over £25,000 excl vat, with the completed form held on file ‘locally’ for audit scrutiny.

Tender control Sheet 25k+ (2017) (pdf)

Basic guide on how to deal with Aggregation

Aggregation and the rules surrounding it help determine how everything you might want to buy should be ‘packaged’ (or not) specifically to decide which rules must be followed to buy such things.

How to deal with aggregation - Basic guide (pdf)