Council Procurement

How we buy
All our purchasing arrangements must comply with both European Union (EU) and UK law, along with the Council's Standing Orders which govern our contracting activities, procedures for obtaining quotations/tenders and awarding contracts.

In addition to this, our purchasing processes always seek to balance whole life cost and fitness for purpose, and to treat suppliers fairly.

We recognise that 'Value for Money' does not usually mean 'lowest price', and therefore our purchasing decisions will often take into account factors such as economic, environmental and social impacts, both in the short term and long term.

Routine, lower value procurement - this type of purchasing is devolved to service departments, where officers will carry out procurement duties based in their respective service areas, undertaking specific work relating to local services, projects and schemes.

Contracts - our Corporate Contracts Team arranges many of the higher value and/or longer term contracts let by the Council. Centralised contracting arrangements have been set up for the procurement of various commodities, including stationery, furniture and office equipment.  Collaborative contracts are periodically arranged in conjunction with other Councils or the Welsh Assembly.

Specialist Contracts are also arranged by officers in various departments throughout the council.

These and other similar major contracts are advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), on the Welsh public sector website www.sell2wales.co.uk and sometimes in relevant trade journals.