Procurement

Introduction

The following pages are offered as an aid to individuals or companies that have no prior experience or contact with the Council as a purchasing organisation and to those current suppliers who wish to expand their business contacts with us.

The Council is keen to ensure that its suppliers reflect the area's diversity and will encourage as many businesses as possible to apply for its contracts. It is hoped that these pages will provide all businesses, including small and minority owned, with the awareness and knowledge of Council procurement processes thus improving the quality of their approach to potential business relationships with us.

The Council's approach is to create a business environment that allows all types of people to realise and reach their full potential in pursuit of business objectives. We recognise that it may be difficult for some individuals or companies to compete successfully, so we need to provide the information, access and opportunities necessary for potential suppliers to compete for Council business.

As an example of the importance that the Council places on this, it has signed up to the National Concordat for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.  Please click on this link to go to the RBWM National Procurement Concordat for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises pdf.

Understanding Public Procurement

Procurement is the process the Council uses to acquire goods, works and services.

Public procurement processes have sometimes been misunderstood. At the local level, some people in business and regeneration circles question why contracts cannot be handed out exclusively to local companies when the service is aimed at local residents and the product of the expenditure could be of additional benefit to the locality. However, the Council is required to follow a series of processes to ensure fair competition and transparency under public procurement law.

The process to tender and let contracts can seem bureaucratic, but this is because the Council is obliged to ensure that any tender is fully documented, in order to justify why the decision to choose one bidder above another has been made. It also has to be undertaken in a manner that can be scrutinised and shown to have been carried out with propriety.  We will try to keep the red tape to a minimum. We are committed to encouraging local businesses and enterprises, as well as supporting new markets and innovative solutions.

Preferred Supplier Lists

One of the most common questions received from suppliers is that of how to get onto the Council's preferred supplier list.  The Council as a whole does not keep a preferred supplier list, although some Units within the Council do maintain their own lists in accordance with Council rules, known as Standing Lists (see below).  However, suppliers may wish to consider registering their interest in doing business with the Council on the South East Business Portal.

Standing Lists

A standing list is a list of pre-vetted companies that may be used from time to time for low value/small works contracts. The standing list will be reviewed at least once every 3 years and kept and maintained by the relevant Unit Manager/Director. 

A standing list for a particular works or service may be created as required through advertisements placed as follows:

• In at least 1 local newspaper
• In at least 1 relevant newspaper or journal
• In the appropriate journal if so required by any EU Directive

Contractors who wish to be included on a standing list must do so by responding to the advertisement and expressing an interest.

Following all expressions of interest received by the deadline given in the advertisement, each applicant will be required to pass mandatory and selected criteria in order to be included on the list. The criteria for selection will be defined prior to commencing the standing list process

The South East Business Portal (SEBP)

This portal (http://www.businessportal.sece.gov.uk/) covers all 74 Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire, Sussex, Surrey and Kent Councils and is free to use.  It is populated with current contract information, which will be added to and updated over time, and contract opportunities (including sub-OJEU [smaller than £139k total value]) for suppliers to view.  Suppliers may register themselves on the portal in order to obtain alerts when a new contract opportunity in their area (business and geographical) is added to the portal. 

A number of authorities across the region are already advertising some of their opportunities and contracts on it.  An internal launch of the portal is planned at RBWM to ensure advertising of all contracts on it, although definitive timescales for this have not yet been finalised.  This will be co-ordinated where possible with other authorities within Berkshire and the surrounding area as part of a wider supplier launch.  Further information will be communicated to relevant organisations regarding timing, including but not limited to the local Chambers of Commerce and the Federation for Small Businesses.

Further information

Requests for general information on procurement issues at the Council may be made in writing to:

The Procurement Manager
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead
Town Hall,
St Ives Road,
Maidenhead,
Berkshire
SL6 1RF
Tel: +44 (0) 1628 682946
Email procurement@rbwm.gov.uk

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RBWM National Procurement Concordat for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Please note that this concordat states that we will have all contact details for all contracts and contract opportunities published on our website, which has since been superseded by the launch of the South East Business Portal (see above for details) in October 2006, which is a regional site that meets these requirements.

•   RBWM National Procurement Concordat for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (pdf) 26.6kb