This page contains information about the way that St Albans City and District Council is procuring goods and services and how this is changing during 2005.

Additional pages are provided giving further information in relation to business including about St Albans, links to supporting and membership services, a business directory, business rates, and council services relating to business.

The Council has both a centralised procurement unit and decentralised specialised purchasing which is devolved across the various Council departments.

The National Strategy for Local Government Procurement encourages all councils to adopt new procurement practices and this process should be completed by 2006. Work in St Albans will be ongoing in parallel with Hertfordshire County Council where collaborative procurement between a number of councils is already taking place.

A number of steps are being planned which will focus on delivering better services, for better value using closer relationships with suppliers and new procurement processes including procurement on-line.

• e-procurement - purchasing electronically via the Internet from electronic catalogues or by e-mail. e-procurement reduces the administrative costs of both the buyer and supplier of placing an order and invoicing the delivery and increases the amount of information for both parties to plan for the future.

• Procurement Cards (or 'Purchasing Card') - a procurement card is similar to a corporate credit card for low value purchases. Procurement cards reduce the administration cost by automating parts of the process. These cards also have controls, which prevent internal and external fraud. To view UK suppliers who can accept procurement cards with VAT reporting please check the "visaforbusiness" website.

• e-billing - the Council is also looking to reduce its administration costs by reducing the manual processing of invoices. Some suppliers have the capability to send the Council electronic invoices, so the Council is currently investigating how best to process and store these invoices.

St Albans is working closely with Hertfordshire County Council to develop these new methods of purchasing and will communicate with suppliers as they are developed.

There are three levels of rules, which govern the way in which the council purchases. UK Government, European Union, and St Albans Council financial regulations establish these.

• Local Government Act 2003 - the Council is bound to comply with the Local Government Act. This places a duty on every Council to purchase goods, services and works using Best Value principles.

• European Union Public Purchasing Directives - All contracts with a total value of greater than £153K (approximately) must be advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), as well as local or national press. All works contracts greater than £3.8 million (approximately) must also be advertised via OJEU, as well as local and national press.

• St Albans Council's own financial regulations, set up as a way of controlling how its money is spent, must also be adhered to by Council employees. These regulations, for instance, determine which Council employees can approve a particular tender proposal and which can sign contract documents. In addition there are specific council policies, which may apply and these are referred to in individual tenders and contracts.

In order to ensure that the Council is delivering best value-for-money, the Council has a thorough tendering process, which varies according to the type of tender, or contract and department to which the service is being delivered

A list of tenders, which are already in place with their lifespan, is shown in the "Large Contract Summary" and the "List of Available Tenders". This information is to be enhanced in the revised web pages to include notice of forthcoming tenders.

The Council is not required to advertise Contracts worth less than £150,000, however if worth more than £25,000 in the majority of tenders it will advertise in a relevant journal. Generally the Council will contact three suppliers for quotations. For smaller items and services Council managers may carry out their own supplier search, or use pre-negotiated contracts with Governmental buying groups such as the Central Business Consortium and OGC buying solutions. The Council can participate in these pre-negotiated contracts without having to go out to tender. Suppliers can approach these organisations separately to inquire about opportunities to supply.

The Council will in most circumstances advertise contracts worth over £25,000 in a relevant trade journal.

If the contracts are greater than £153K (approximately) for supplies or services, and over £3.8 million (approximately) for works, EU Procurement Directives apply. In this case, the Council will advertise the contract via the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) instead of a trade journal. Tenders advertised in OJEU can be viewed on Tenders Electronic Daily. These tenders will also usually be advertised in the local press. Other UK Journals also publish tenders relevant to their particular industry. There are also UK publications available to suppliers that focus solely on public sector tender information such as Local Government Tenders.

Tendering Process
The tender documentation will guide you through this process as it varies according to the type of goods or services and the department procuring the goods and/or services.

Contract Award
Once the contract has been awarded, any necessary details will be agreed and then Council and the selected supplier will sign the contract as included in the tendering documents.

Contract Monitoring
The Council may meet with the selected supplier(s) on a regular basis to review performance and discuss any related issues.