Tenders and Contracts
Welcome to our procurement website. Its purpose is to
provide current and prospective suppliers with the basic
information they need to deal with Bedford Borough Council, which
became a unitary authority on 1st April 2009.
Procurement can be defined as ’the end to
end process to prepare for and acquire or commission goods, works
and/or services on the best possible terms, in the right quantity
and quality, at the right time, in the right place for the direct
or indirect benefit or use of the Council and its taxpayers of
Bedford Borough by means of a contract’.
Procurement decisions are important because we
have a duty to maximise Value for Money in providing high-quality
services to our community. The Council’s reputation must also be
protected from any allegation of dishonesty or corruption in
spending public money.
PROCUREMENT STRUCTURE
The Council operates a devolved procurement
function.
Service Departments are principally
responsible for day-to-day procurement, including:
- Tenders, Requests for Quotations and
sourcing
- raising purchase orders (POs) and resolving
invoice queries
- managing contracts and suppliers
Procurement is co-ordinated by the
Financial Strategy & Review team,
which supports Service Departments in securing best value from
their procurement activity, and will also:
- manage certain corporate contracts
- provide management information on procurement
expenditure and contractual commitments
- analyse our procurement activity and identify
potential cost and efficiency savings
- oversee development of procurement systems so
as to increase efficiency and stimulate competition for Council
business
FURTHER INFORMATION
If you are already in touch with the Council,
please direct any specific enquiries to your current contacts. A
list of Service Department contacts will be placed here in due
course.
Enquiries of a general nature, or relating to
this website, should be directed to:
commercial.hub@bedford.gov.uk
Further details of our approach to procurement
can be viewed at:
Procurement
Strategy
Guide to
Sustainable Procurement
Contract
Procedure Rules
The government's free online
course 'Winning the Contract', helps businesses to
learn about public procurement and how to bid for public sector
contracts. It is available on the Business Link website at
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/procurement
Financial Strategy & Review team
July 2011