Procurement policies, procedures and responsibilities

The Procurement team is responsible for setting the strategic direction of the council’s procurement activities. 

They work alongside functions and service areas to develop category strategies for major spend categories. They will lead on designing, building and running tenders as well as managing contracts and supplier relationships.

Find out more about the procurement service offer (PPTX, 1MB).

View the Procurement team structure chart (PDF, 212KB). 

The Procurement category chart (PDF, 179KB) shows the procurement specialists responsible for each area of procurement.

Responsibilities when spending council money 

While the Procurement team is responsible for all sourcing activity with a value of £100,000 (one hundred thousand) or more, all employees should be familiar with the procurement policy and procedures documents and ensure they operate within the rules. 

Procurement policy and procedures 

The Procurement policy and procedures (PDF, 600KB) sets out the council’s procurement policy and procedures which support delivery of the organisation's commercial strategy. 

It also forms part of the council’s code of governance and standing orders, and all employees have a duty to make sure they have fully understood the information before buying goods and services. 

You can find the appendices from this policy below:

• Appendix A: procurement categories (DOC, 26KB)

• Appendix B: EU procurement threshold (PDF, 82KB)

• Appendix C: commissioning or commercial outline (PDF, 140KB)

• Appendix D: Essex County Council supplier charter (PDF, 29KB)

• Appendix E: advertising timescales for each of the EU procurement procedures (PDF, 78KB)

• Appendix F: delegations of authority within the Procurement team (PDF, 234KB)

• Supplier sustainability charter (PDF, 414KB)

Procurement strategy 

The Procurement strategy (PDF, 700KB) defines our organisational approach to procurement and has been developed to support everyone within the council that has a role to play in delivering services within the external market. 

Social value policy 

Social value is the view beyond price that looks at the additional value organisations can bring to our communities. We want to work our suppliers to produce wider benefits for Essex. 

To understand our approach and learn more about social value and how it applies to your buying activities, read about our social value priorities on Essex.gov.uk. 

Modern Slavery Act 2015 compliance 

We expect our suppliers to comply with the regulations in the Modern Slavery Act 2015.  

Our our modern day slavery and human trafficking statement which further explains how we deal with modern slavery risks in our supply chains. Read about compliance with the Modern Slavery Act on Essex.gov.uk.