Supplier's guide to selling to the council

Contents

• Disclaimer
• Types of procurement agreement
• Types of procurement process
• Buying goods, works and services
• National legislation
• Regulations specific to Bath & North East Somerset
• Evaluating tender applications
• Monitoring contracts
• Payment methods

Regulations specific to Bath & North East Somerset

We have our own rules to ensure our procurement and contracting activity is fair, transparent and offers the best value for money. We call these rules our Contract Standing Orders (CSOs). Use this page to understand what they are and how they work.

Contract Standing Orders (CSOs) and the supplier selection process

CSOs are our own set of rules that all council officers have to follow. All public body authorities will have their own version.

CSOs provide the framework that governs the council's commissioning and procurement of contracts for works, services, and good and supplies. 

Factors affecting CSOs

The requirements of the CSOs, and the processes we must follow to achieve them, vary depending on the following:

• The value of the contract
• The complexity of the goods, works or service to be provided
• The level of risk associated with completing the contract

Categories of items that we procure

Our procurement approach divides the items we procure into four categories:

• Goods and services
• Works and concessions
• Light Touch Services (as defined by The Procurement Act 2023)
• Healthcare services (as defined by the Provider Selection Regime)

Within each category, the process we follow depends on the value of the contract. 

Select a topic below, to view more detail about the supplier selection process for each of the four categories. 

Goods and services

Goods describes the purchase of physical items, such as office furniture or computer hardware. Services describes the provision of activities or functions performed by a supplier, such as office cleaning, or an expert report which we have commissioned, to inform a policy decision. 

See our page on National legislation for more information about contract size threshold amounts.

Contract value	Supplier selection process
Under £50,000	Must obtain a minimum of one written bid or quotation
Between £50,000 and the Goods and Services Threshold	Must obtain minimum of three invited written bids or quotes using our e-tendering system (ProContract)
Above the Goods and Services Threshold	Procurement process that is compliant with The Procurement Act 2023

Works and concessions

Works describes activities involving construction, repair, renovation, demolition, infrastructure and refurbishment. Concessions describes instances where the service provider may take on the delivery, ongoing management and associated risks of a service or infrastructure. For example, the contract for running local leisure centres.

See our page on National legislation for more information about contract size threshold amounts.

Contract value	Supplier selection process
Under £50,000	Must obtain one written bid or quotation
From £50,000 to £499,999.99	Must obtain minimum of three invited written bids or quotations, using our e-tendering system, ProContract
From £500,000 to the Works Threshold	Advertised process using ProContract
Above Works threshold	Procurement process that is compliant with The Procurement Act 2023

Light Touch services

Light Touch services are defined as services which may be very localised and specialised, such as specific social, educational and health promotion programmes. Because there is less likely to be competion from service providers outside the local area, there is a bit more flexibility (or a lighter touch) in the procurement process. This is designed to reduce administrative time and cost, to give opportunities to support local suppliers and to promote social value enterprises, where appropriate. 

See our page on National legislation for more information about contract size threshold amounts.

Contract value	Supplier selection process
Under £50,000	Must obtain a minimum of one written bid or quotation
Between £50,000 and the Light Touch Regime Threshold	Must obtain minimum of three invited written bids or quotes using our e-tendering system (ProContract)
Above the Light Touch Regime Threshold	Procurement process that is compliant with The Procurement Act 2023

Healthcare services

Read more on the NHS website about the types of service this applies to, and how commissioning is done. 

Contract value	Supplier selection process
All values	Procurement process which is compliant with the Healthcare Services Provider Selection Regime Regulations 2023