Doing business with Warwick District Council
Current tender opportunities
Guidelines
These guidelines have been produced to assist suppliers and contractors who wish to supply Warwick District Council with goods and services. This information has been produced to help improve communications with potential suppliers and ultimately produce Best Value from the Council's tendering processes.
Warwick District Council works with the West Midlands Regional and Efficiency Partnership (WMRIEP) which is one of nine regional centres for England to support councils in delivering key services, including support for procurement.
Procurement rules and regulations
As a local authority procurement operation, there are regulations at a European, National and Local Level, which the council has to follow when procuring Supplies, Services and Works services. The information below gives a brief outline of those regulations:
European rules
All public sector contracts, no matter what their value within European Union, are covered by a treaty which incorporate the free movement of goods and services, which prevents discrimination against firms on the grounds of nationality. These Directives are included in UK law as the EC Procurement Regulations 2006 (62kb, PDF).
These Directives and Regulations require the council to follow detailed procedures for all procurement above a financial threshold. The thresholds are reviewed every two years and are currently (for the two year period 01/01/2008 to 31/12/2010)
- Services and Supplies £139,893 (€206,000) excluding VAT
- Works £3,497,313 (€5,150,000) excluding VAT
For all tenders above these threshold values a specific tender notice must be placed in the supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) to give all suppliers in the EU an equal opportunity to tender. Further information can be found at e-procurement Europe.
National rules
Whilst there is no prescription on local authorities to tender out specific services, all councils have a duty under Local Government Best Value Order and explained further in statutory guidance from the DTLR to fundamentally review their services. Also to make arrangements to ensure continuous improvement, having regard to economy, efficiency and effectiveness. Performance Indicators and targets for improvement are set and published in an annual Best Value Performance Plan. Warwick District Council recognises that effective procurement is at the heart of Best Value and the Best Value review process will help deliver the commitment of the council to provide the best possible services for the people of Warwick district.
Local rules
Most of the council's tender opportunities will be open to anyone wishing to tender, however there are instances where this will not be the case and the council will draw up a select list of firms to whom tenders will be issued. In this case the contract notice or advertisement will state what is required from the potential tenderers.
In some instances potential tenderers will be sent a pre-qualification questionnaire prior to issuing on an invitation to tender. This is to assess the potential bidder's suitability to supply the council and ability to satisfy the contract. It is important that companies supply all of the requested information and respond by the due date.
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