Check whether any special conditions may apply before buying goods or services for the council.
Public procurement in the UK has to comply with a number of rules and regulations.
When making a purchase on behalf of the council, you need to follow these rules, as well as any additional rules required by the organisation.
Before buying goods or services, you need to check whether any special conditions may apply to your purchase.
If any of these conditions apply, you will be supported by colleagues in the council to make sure you are following the right process.
Mandated contracts are pre-approved suppliers that all employees can use to buy items and services that are frequently needed.
When you need to buy something, you must check the list of mandated contracts first to see if your need can be met using an existing contract.
Regardless of the value, if you're buying software, licences, or non-standard hardware you must first get approval from the Technology Services team.
The Research and Citizen Insights team provide support for anyone buying research services.
To decide whether your research needs can be met internally or if you need to buy research services from a third-party supplier, contact research@essex.gov.uk with your requirements.
Clinical governance may apply to your procurement activity if the service being procured requires a supplier to frequently undertake:
All procurement activities where clinic governance may apply must be managed by the Procurement team.
If you need more information or think clinic governance may need to be considered as part of procurement activity, contact procurement.team@essex.gov.uk.
Works health and safety may apply to your procurement activity if the service being procured involves construction.
All procurement activities involving construction must be managed by the Procurement team.
If you need more information or think works health and safety may need to be considered as part of your procurement activity, contact procurement.team@essex.gov.uk.
Consultancy is the provision of external advice relating to strategy, structure, management or operations of an organisation in pursuit of its purposes and objectives.
The services are advisory in nature, and will be outside the “business-as-usual” environment when in-house skills are not available and will be time-limited.
Consultancy may include the identification of options with recommendations, or assistance with the implementation of solutions.
To decide whether the use of consultancy services are appropriate, read the consultancy services guidance (DOC, 130MB).
Some healthcare services must be procured in a different way as they are captured under different regulations.
All procurement activities where the different regulations may apply must be managed by the Procurement team.
If your requirement includes healthcare services, contact the Procurement team at procurement.team@essex.gov.uk to confirm if your requirement does fall under different regulations, or if you can proceed with this Request for Quotation process.
Information governance may apply to your procurement activity if the service being procured requires a supplier to have access to personal data.
All procurement activities where information governance may apply must be managed by the Procurement team.
If you need more information or think information governance may need to be considered as part of your procurement activity, contact informationgovernanceteam@essex.gov.uk.
Safeguarding may apply to your procurement activity if the service being procured requires a supplier to frequently undertake activities at:
Safeguarding may also be a concern whenever a supplier may work directly with children or vulnerable adults.
All procurement activities where safeguarding may apply must be managed by the Procurement team.
If you need more information or think safeguarding may be involve in your procurement activity or need more information, contact procurement.team@essex.gov.uk.
TUPE occurs when the work you do either transfers out of or into the council. The purpose of TUPE is to protect employment rights during the transfer between organisations. The same regulations apply to all organisations. Learn more about what happens if you’re involved in a TUPE transfer.
TUPE can be a complex area, but mainly occurs where a service is either outsourced or insourced, or where a procurement activity for an existing requirement could result in a different supplier being successful and being awarded the new contract. There are various ‘tests’ that are needed to understand if a requirement truly is subject to TUPE.
Due to the complexity of TUPE and its legal implications, any requirement that includes TUPE, regardless of the total value of the contract, must be managed by the Procurement team.
If you need more information or think TUPE may apply to your procurement activity or need more information, contact procurement.team@essex.gov.uk.