Clackmannanshire Council Online

Council Signs up to Suppliers’ Charter

Clackmannanshire Council has signed up to a Suppliers' Charter, which aims to help small, local companies to access Council contracts.

The Council spends thousands of pounds every year on goods and services. To meet this need we require a range of suppliers who will work with us to minimise costs and meet changing requirements. The Council is also committed to ensuring that local providers can compete effectively for the Council's contracts.

The Suppliers' Charter has been drawn up by a national forum comprising representation from central and local government, health, education and the business community.

The Charter, which has been signed by Clackmannanshire Council's Chief Executive Keir Bloomer, is intended to form an agreement between public purchasers and the business community.

By signing the Charter the Council has committed to:

• Develop public sector procurement processes with the aim of ensuring fairness and transparency
• Consult with business on an ongoing basis to achieve change
• Advertise contracts in an appropriate manner, consistent with the requirements of the new Scottish Procurement Regulations (regulation 8(21))
• Use of the standard pre-qualification questionnaire
• Provide debriefing on request, whether or not the procurement regulations require it.

In return, business organisations commit to:

• Recognise that public sector must work within a legal framework when awarding contracts
• Encourage members to adhere to the Charter including use of the standard questionnaire
• Use judgement in bidding only for appropriate contracts
• Work with customers to deliver Value for Money throughout the life of the contract.

A qualification questionnaire has been drawn up which is intended to enable businesses to familiarise themselves with public sector procurement processes and to concentrate resources on quality aspects of their responses. Where there is no pre-qualification stage in procurement, Clackmannanshire Council will adopt the format of this document for use in tendering.

Derek Barr, Procurement Manager, said: "Clackmannanshire Council has been instrumental in crafting this charter and questionnaire with the rest of the Scottish public sector procurement and over the last few years we have been proactive in enabling business to compete for Council opportunities through the Business Liaison Initiative and more recently through Clackmannanshire Business. "In the near future we intend that the tender form will be made available electronically for suppliers to complete and update only when changes have occurred thus elevating the administrative burden of suppliers that tender regularly with the Council."