All purchases of Goods and Services made by Stratford-upon-Avon College (and merger partner Solihull College & University Centre) shall be subject to, and incorporate the following terms and conditions unless otherwise agreed in writing by the College.
While cost will always be an important measure, value for money (VfM) also takes account of the mix of quality, resource use, fitness for purpose, timeliness and convenience of a product or service to judge whether or not, when taken together, good value has been achieved.
For the benefit of our students and the wider community Stratford-upon-Avon College (and merger partner Solihull College & University Centre) strives to deliver and continually improve VfM in everything we do.
Procurement provides specialist support in all purchasing activities at the College to ensure we deliver and can demonstrate:
- VfM on all purchases of goods, services, works, and lease agreements;
- Robust management of public and other funds through fair, auditable, transparent processes;
- Compliance to College Financial Regulations, and the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 or Procurement Act 2023 when implemented in accordance with UK legislation*
- Support of the local economy by, wherever possible utilising the provisions of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012
* Please see the ‘Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR) and Procurement Act 2023 (PA23)’ section below for legislative updates
Please see ‘Current Opportunities’ for further details on how to supply to the College.
Standard supply requirements (IT, stationery) typically are purchased through Consortium frameworks. Most frequently used are Crescent Purchasing Consortium www.thecpc.ac.uk or Crown Commercial Services ccs-agreements.cabinetoffice.gov.uk. Please contact these providers directly for tendering opportunities.
Smaller, bespoke or more service led requirements are advertised and tendered direct by the College via the In-Tend Electronic Tendering System. This system allows you easier access to all forthcoming opportunities, offers increased security and auditability and reduces the tendering costs associated with printing and postage.
Suppliers who would like to express an interest in working with Stratford-upon-Avon College (and merger partner Solihull College & University Centre) and obtain automatic notifications of forthcoming opportunities can register on In-Tend free of charge using:
Tendering is a time-consuming activity. While higher marks at tender will always be awarded to questions that respond to all aspects of the question and are bespoke for the College’s requirement there are steps you can take to support general preparation.
- Ensure you are registered on In-Tend and register against all spend categories of interest to you.
- Start to create a tender library with helpful reference documents that may be required related to the services you provide, for example
- Copies of Insurances
- Signed company accounts
- Cyber Essentials certifications
- H&S policy statement
- Constructionline/Safecontractor or other industry accreditations
- ISO accreditations (if applicable)
- Quality Policies
- Details of case study examples that can be applied to the College
- Copies of relevant staff CVs
- Safeguarding measures (policies or procedures)
- Social Value and Sustainability is an area of increasing importance. The PCR and PA both require that tenders include this as at least 10% of the overall tendering weighting, therefore
- Consider how you can support the provisions of the Social Value Act 2012 with offers to improve the College learner experiences, local community outcomes and employment opportunities
- Consider how you can support sustainability improvements through Scope 2 and 3 carbon emissions to support the College with Net Zero performance. Have examples and measurements available.
Note: The College welcome tenders from SMEs. Not having expensive accreditations will not necessarily preclude you from working with the College. Not having considered how you would address concerns related to key points will. All Social Value offers should be offered free of charge as a value-added provision, so we expect these to be reasonable and proportionate to the contract size.
The College will make payment 30 days after the goods/services are delivered or a valid invoice is received (whichever is the later).
Invoices must bear a valid College purchase order number in order for payment to be processed. The College will not pay or accept any liability for invoices submitted not in accordance with these instructions.
For all contract or general purchasing queries please contact;
Please view our sub contracting information by following the link below:
As a publicly funded body Stratford-upon-Avon College (and merger partner Solihull College & University Centre) must adhere to UK procurement legislation (PCR/PA23).
On the Government is implementing the new PA23 to replace the PCR. This means there will be a transitional period for all contracts awarded and tendered under the PCR. This transitional period applies to all tenders commenced before and will last for the life of the contract / up to 4 years.
For suppliers the PA brings new features which should make it easier to do business with ALL public sector contracting authorities:
- A central digital platform for suppliers to register and store their details so that they can be used for multiple bids and see all opportunities in one place (Note In-tend will still be required for accessing and submitting tenders).
- Simplified bidding processes to make it easier to bid, negotiate and work in partnership with the public sector – including a new ‘competitive flexible’ procedure.
- Commercial frameworks will be more flexible, so prospective suppliers are not shut out for long periods of time.
- A new duty on contracting authorities to have regard to the particular barriers facing SMEs and VCSEs, and to consider what can be done to overcome them throughout the procurement lifecycle, helping level the playing field for smaller businesses so they can compete for more contracts.
- Strengthened provisions for prompt payment throughout the supply chain – enabling SMEs to benefit from 30 day payment terms on a broader range of public sector contracts.
- A stronger exclusions framework will take tougher action on underperforming suppliers.
It is intended that these changes will drive innovation, deliver better outcomes and embed transparency right through the commercial lifecycle, so everyone can access procurement data and see how public money is spent. Links to additional reading to support your understanding of the new legislation is detailed below
Dedicated information for suppliers, particularly around the Procurement Review Unit and Central Digital Platform will be issued by the Cabinet Office in early 2025.
The Government Commercial Function has been working with leading business groups and trade associations to make guidance and support available for the suppliers. There is already a range of information and resources about the new regime on the Transforming Public Procurement landing page including a series of short ‘Knowledge Drop’ instruction videos with tailored versions designed specifically for suppliers, including SMEs and VCSEs suppliers.
In the lead up to go-live on there are actions you can start to take to prepare if your contracts are subject to the PCR/PA:
- Familiarise yourself with the Act – check out the summary documents and short videos on the Transforming Public Procurement landing page.
- Sign up for regular Cabinet Office updates.
- Attend more detailed training on the Procurement Act which is specifically designed for suppliers. We recommend you consider attending the following training What Suppliers need to know about the Procurement Act – Level 1 Training – In2 the bargain
- Start to prepare the information that will be needed for you, as a supplier, to register on the new central digital platform. The Cabinet Office has said they will be issuing specific guidance for suppliers in early 2025 but in the meantime we suggest you look that the details that suppliers need to register on the platform set out in regulations 9 to 12 in The Procurement Regulations 2024
- Discuss the changes with us – we are now thinking about our forward pipeline and which procurements might benefit from the new flexible approaches and would be happy to discuss our preparations and timelines with you.
- Watch the dedicated official Knowledge Drops available via the link above, with guidance, procurement reform events and supplier communications.
For all queries related to this please contact;
