East Suffolk Council currently spends around £84 million each year and we are keen to encourage a diverse range of suppliers to do business with us, both large and small.
As a local council we are not just looking for the biggest companies to supply us, we want to encourage organisations of all sizes to bid on our tenders, including local suppliers. There is something for everyone and we are shaping procurements for all kinds of suppliers.
We are governed by many different regulations which ensure that the way we work is fair, open and transparent. These regulations can mean that the process is more complex than in the private sector, but they do mean you can be sure you will be treated fairly and on the same terms as everyone else.
It is not all about money. We want the best value in our agreements and not simply the lowest price. Having delivered services for over 45 years, you can be sure that working with East Suffolk Council is a safe partner to do business with, paying 98% of our suppliers on time within 30 days.
There are many other benefits to doing business with the council:
All our contracting activities must contribute to the aims and objectives of the Procurement Strategy 2024-2028.
The new Procurement Strategy focuses on four main themes supported by a fifth, good governance:
1. Social Value. The priorities underpinning this theme are supporting local people, achievable Social Value outcomes and monitoring delivery of Social Value.
2. Environment. The priorities underpinning this theme are environmentally responsible materials, education and green procurement choices.
3. Supporting SMEs and Local Businesses. The priorities underpinning this theme are access to opportunities, engaging local supply chain and training.
4. Ethical Procurement. The priorities underpinning this theme are ethical tax practices, working conditions, Fairtrade and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
Each theme details what the strategy will deliver under those priorities and how they contribute to the strategic objectives in Our Direction 2028.
Specifications, requirements and quality criteria in tender documents will incorporate these above themes in some way, so if you want to do business with the Council it’s a good idea to take a look and see how you could build this into your tender response.
The Procurement Act 2023 and supporting Procurement Regulations 2024 are due to come into force 24 February 2025 and will apply to all higher value procurements over the Public Procurement Threshold. The aims of the new Act includes principles of transparency, delivering value for money, maximising public benefit and ensuring opportunities are available to Small and Medium Enterprises. The Procurement Strategy 2024-2028 has been developed so that it will not need to be amended further as a result of the Act.
East Suffolk Council’s Procurement Team will be engaging with suppliers on the impact of the new regulations through our Meet the Buyer event, emails and this webpage.
The Cabinet Office will be releasing a supplier communications package imminently and have produced short knowledge drops for suppliers: The Official Transforming Public Procurement Knowledge Drops - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
We want to support small and local businesses to win our contracts. This includes looking at how we structure contracts, revising our tender documentation, producing guidance documents, holding supplier events and working with local commerce groups.
We aim to hold two Meet the Buyer events a year in either Lowestoft or Woodbridge.
The next event will be during Summer 2025. Please email procurement@eastsuffolk.gov.uk for more information and to join the waitlist. We do have a maximum number of places available so they are reserved on a first come, first served basis.
We support the national procurement concordat for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The concordat is a statement of principles to encourage effective trade between local authorities and small businesses:
Social Value is very important to the council. It is important we maximise public benefit for every pound we spend. This could be anything from having apprentices involved in delivering the contract, therefore creating jobs for the younger generation, to ensuring that we incorporate local businesses with our work to help improve the local economy.
Our aims and approach are detailed in our policy here:
Social Value is not a new concept in the public sector but it can be tricky to understand how to incorporate it into your tender responses, especially as a small business. The Procurement Team is working on compiling an East Suffolk Social Value Ask which will detail the outcomes the council would like to see as part of its contracting activities. More details will published as this is developed but the intention is it will be part of the tender documentation and suppliers will be able to choose from a list of options as to how they will deliver Social Value, making it easier for suppliers to improve their Social Value offer.
East Suffolk Council’s Procurement Team provides procurement services to East Suffolk Services Limited, Great Yarmouth Borough Council, South Norfolk Council and Broadland District Council. Contract opportunities for these organisations will be advertised through East Suffolk’s procurement portal as in the following section.
We are also working with the Suffolk Supply Chain to help our supplier base improve their tender responses.
We want to engage more with our suppliers to let them know when we have contract opportunities coming up or “in the pipeline” so you can better plan your resource in responding to invitation to tender.
View our first iteration of our procurement pipeline
This information is as accurate as we can provide at present, we are intending to improve on this and update quarterly going forward. Information provided is subject to change.
We advertise open opportunities on our eProcurement site. Suppliers can register on In-tend free of charge and will then be able to respond to all of the advertised opportunities.
On In-tend you can:
More information and detailed guidance.
Open opportunities over £25,000 will also be advertised on Contracts Finder and, when above Public Procurement Threshold levels, on the Find a Tender Service (FTS).
All procurements are governed by our Contract Procedure Rules which it within the council’s Constitution. The Contract Procedure Rules in the Constitution are expanded on in the Supplementary Notes.
These rules and regulations govern our procedures for obtaining quotations, issuing tenders and awarding contracts.
For higher value contracts, those over the Public Procurement Threshold (detailed below) additional rules and regulations apply.
The procurement process depends on the value of the works, supplies or services sought and there are thresholds for when the council must obtain written quotations and issue tenders.
Value of works, supplies or services excluding VAT | Quotations or tenders required |
---|---|
£0 to £20,000 |
One quotation demonstrating value for money and confirmed in writing |
£20,001 - £75,000 |
Three written quotations either issued openly or to at least three suppliers |
£75,001 - Public Procurement Threshold |
Invitation to tender issued either issued openly or to at least three suppliers |
Over £214,904 including VAT (Public Procurement Threshold for supplies and services) |
Procurement process subject to Public Contract Regulations 2015 |
Over £5,372,609 including VAT (Public Procurement Threshold for works) |
Procurement process subject to Public Contract Regulations 2015 |
All documents issued will contain all the details necessary to submit a fully compliant bid. They typically include (but are not limited to):
The opportunity must remain open for a set number of days (appropriate to the specific tender). You must respond within this period in order to be included in the tender. All dates and instructions will be stated within the documents. Once the closing date has passed, the bids submitted will be scored and evaluated to produce a winning supplier.
We recommend you read all documents carefully and answer the opportunity based on our specific requirements with your best offer.
When preparing your bid or tender submission, ensure you make use of the clarification period to check anything that you may not be sure about. Clarifications should take place through the In-Tend System. Unless the question is considered commercially sensitive to your bid, questions and their answers will be circulated to all potential suppliers to ensure that no-one has an unfair advantage throughout the process.
We appreciate that for many suppliers, filling in a tender document is a daunting process. To help with this, we have produced an example Invitation to Tender, with example “good” and “poor” responses:
All bid submissions, that meet the mandatory requirements stated within the tender documents, will be evaluated by a panel of council officers with a good understanding of the requirement, e.g. the project leader. All bids will be assessed by the criteria contained within the tender documents. The scores are then moderated to produce an overall winning score.
The contract is awarded as soon as possible after the evaluation process has been completed and authorisation (if required) has been obtained. All suppliers will then receive feedback and a breakdown of the areas of their response relative to the advantages of the winning bidder.
Once the contract is up and running, it will be assigned a contract manager, either from the department that the procurement originated from or from the procurement team. Each contract is different and some may involve Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) or a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to adhere to, which will regularly be reviewed. The contract manager will be responsible for ensuring that the minimum requirements are supplied, including the delivery of any promises made in your bid above the standard specification. The contract manager should be the first point of escalation for any disputes or changes within the contract.
Supplier financial status and any relevant certificates will also be checked on an annual basis.
Should you have any concerns or feedback regarding procurement processes or contract management within the Authority, please inform the lead procurement officer by completing our supplier feedback form.