Procurement

About Procurement Services

Thames Valley Police spends approximately £115 million per annum on the procurement of goods, services and works. The aim of the Thames Valley Police Procurement Services team is to identify saving opportunities across the force and to provide a flexible procurement function to meet the Force's current and future needs.

The team is working with the business to deliver significant commercial benefits by:

• Moving away from securing one-off contracts to longer-term efficient and effective business solutions that minimise the costs over the life of a contract.
• Deployment of category management approaches to understand the market opportunities and changing business needs.
• Achieving and sustaining savings through the procurement life cycle.
• Creating a centre of excellence providing the right skills, and engaged staff being seen as a value added service.

Procurement Services has teams in the following areas:

• Fixed Assets – Property Services, Fleet and Travel, email [email protected], Procurement [email protected]
• ICT, email [email protected]
• Operational and Professional Services, email [email protected]

Tenders and contracts guidance

A lack of information about opportunities and understanding of the Force’s contracting procedures may be stopping some organisations from seeking to become a supplier to the force. This information aims to overcome these difficulties and explains how to apply for opportunities and what is expected of you when working for the force.

Contracts are awarded on the basis of obtaining best value for money for the taxpayer. Thames Valley Police cannot discriminate in favour of local suppliers but they will be given every encouragement to compete for contracts.

There is a great deal of competition for Thames Valley Police contracts and this guide cannot assure an individual firm’s success. However, it should provide enough information to give you the opportunity to be considered for force work.

The Authority requires successful bidders to either hold Cyber Essentials or have a minimum of core membership (free of charge) with the South East Cyber Resilience Centre (SECRC). Membership can be secured by registering at the SECRC website. The Authority recommends all businesses register for this free support with regards to cyber crime.

Procurement rules and regulations

As a public body, there are regulations at both national and local levels that Thames Valley Police is required to follow when procuring goods, services and works. Further details of the local regulations can be found within the Chief Constable’s Financial Instructions.

European Rules

The EC Treaty incorporates the free movement of goods and services and prevents discrimination against suppliers on the grounds of nationality. It covers all public sector contracts no matter what their value, within the EU. An EC Procurement Directive backs up the principles of the treaty:

2004/18/EC – Procedures for the award of Public Works Contracts, Public Supply Contracts and Public Service Contracts.

This directive is included in UK law as a number of regulations:

• The Public Supply Contracts Regulations 2015
• The Public Services Contracts Regulations 1993 S.I.No.3228
• The Public Works Contracts Regulations 1991 S.I. No. 2680

The directives and regulations require public bodies to follow detailed procedures for all procurement activities above financial thresholds. The thresholds are reviewed every two years.

A number of new reforms to make public sector procurement more accessible have now been implemented in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015). These reforms include new transparency obligations on all contracting authorities which mean that new public sector opportunities will be available in one place, the contracts finder portal. In addition contract award information relating to the winning contractor will also be available on the contracts finder portal. The threshold for TVP to publish is £50,000.

When the estimated value of a contract is expected to exceed the relevant EU financial threshold it must be advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), and rules that promote non-discriminatory and transparent competition must be followed. Note that values are for total contract value (ie for the full value for the term of the contract).

With effect from 1st January 2022 the following thresholds apply:-

• Products, Services and Design Contracts £213,477
• Works Contracts £5,336,937
• Social and other Specific Services £663,540

Full details on thresholds is available on the OJEU portal.

European Procurement Directives specify timescales that must be followed and these are intended to ensure that reasonable time to respond to adverts and prepare submissions is given to interested parties.

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. A notice of contract award must be placed in OJEU.

Supplying the Thames Valley Police

Where a purchase need cannot be met from an existing contract, a quotation or “tender” process is undertaken, as follows, in accordance with the Chief Constables Finance Instructions: