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| Benchmarking: |
| A process to test whether both the standard and price of services is in line with an equivalent market standard (if applicable). It is done so without any formal competitive tendering. |
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| Best and Final Offer: |
| Once initial bids have been received from tenderers, the Council can select the best 2 bidder and request that they produce a best and final offer. This will be more detailed than the initial bid. A BAFO stage is not required in all cases. The ITN should state whether a BAFO will be sought or not. |
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| Best value: |
| Under Best Value, each local authority has a duty to 'make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the way in which its functions are exercised, having regard to a combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness'. This improvement involves consideration of costs as well as making the most of money spent, making sure that services meet the needs of communities and authorities' priorities. The principles of sustainable procurement are consistent with the principles of Best Value. Best value specifically requires “the optimum combination of whole life costs and benefits to meet the customer’s requirement”. Best Value allows sustainability and quality to be part of procurement decision-making allowing factors such as fuel efficiency and low replacement cycles to be taken into account. Benefits to local people, good workforce management, community safety, diversity and fairness are also key elements of best value of relevance to sustainable procurement. |
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| Bundling: |
| Bundling is the grouping of projects or services within one project structure in a manner which enables them to be procured, financed and developed as one project. |
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| Candidates: |
| Used to refer to companies at the selection stage, who has expressed an interest in a contract, but have not yet been invited to tender |
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| Directive: |
| Type of European legislation that is binding on Member States as to the result to be achieved but leaves the method of implementation to national governments. They must accordingly be transposed into national law. The procurement Directives are implemented in the UK by Regulations (Statutory Instruments) under Section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972. |
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| EC: |
| The European Community (formerly the European Economic Community). This is the part of the EU, under which public procurement legislation is enacted, hence EC Directives |
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| EC Rules: |
| Used to refer to the Public Procurement Directives, the EC Treaty ad relevant case law together |
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| EC Treaty: |
| Refers to the consolidated version of the Treaty establishing the European Community, following the Treaty of Amsterdam. A key objective of the Treaty was the creation of a free internal market, requiring elimination of barriers to trade, and barriers to free movement of labour, capital and business. Essential parts of the Treaty, from the point of view of public procurement, include articles on non-discrimination on the grounds of nationality, the freedom to provide services, and freedom of establishment. |
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| e-Commerce: |
| Uses Web-based technologies to streamline your business model. It creates savings and increases efficiency by lowering costs and establishing closer, more responsive relationships with your customers, suppliers and partners. |
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| e-Procurement: |
| Is the business-to-business purchase and sale of supplies and services over the Internet. The Internet has virtually eliminated traditional procurement barriers, providing instant access to thousands of buyers, suppliers and marketplaces around the world. And with e-procurement solutions, you can enable your purchasing needs via a singe Web-enables access point. |
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| Equal opportunities: |
| Good working practice in equal opportunities would ensure that all the staff involved in the life cycle (see below) of the item or service have been given equal opportunity regardless of their colour, race, gender, nationality, ethnic origin, age or disability. Purchasers should think about the organisations involved in the life cycle of the product or service and their record on equal opportunities. The money local authorities spend on goods and services should promote and protect equalities in employment. |
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| Ethical and Fair Trade: |
| Fair Trade is a growing international movement which ensures that producers in poor countries get a fair price for their goods (one which covers production costs and provides a living income), decent working terms and conditions and longer term contracts that provide security. Over 130 products on the UK market carry the FAIRTRADE mark a consumer label awarded by the Fairtrade Foundation. Ethical trade is a wider term which can include Fair Trade principles but also other issues such as business ethics (paying on time, who the Council will/will not work with). |
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| GPA: |
| Government Procurement Agreement, agreed under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Following the EC Rules will ensure compliance with the GPA, where it applies, and GPA suppliers have the same rights as EC suppliers. A list of current signatories to the GPA can be found in the Public Procurement State of Play document, available on www.ogc.gov.uk (click on ‘Procurement Policy and EC Rules’) |
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| Negotiated Procedure: |
| This is one of the prescribed procedures under the EU procurement regime entitling the Council to negotiate with tenderers at any stage during he tender process |
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| OJEU: |
| Official Journal of the European Union, formerly Official Journal of the European Communities (OJEC) |
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| Output Specification: |
| The Council sets out its specification requirements in terms of what we went to achieve, leaving the tenderers to decide on how they will deliver those requirements. This can lead to innovation by the tenderers. The services detailed in the output specification should be capable of objective assessment so that the performance of the supplier can be accurately monitored. |
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| Preferred Bidder: |
| A single bidder selected by the Council to go forward to the detailed negotiation stage prior to award of the draft Project Agreement |
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| Procurement cards: |
| There are two versions of procurement cards in operation.
The first is like a traditional credit card and is used as a corporate credit card to purchase supplies.
The second is a procurement card, which is an arrangement with selected suppliers and has particular supplier controls in place. |
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| Smart Cards: |
| The smart card is one of the latest additions to the world of information technology. Similar in size to today’s plastic payment card, the smart card has a microprocessor or memory chip embedded in it that, when coupled with a reader, has the processing power to serve many different applications. As an access-control device, smart cards make personal and business data available only to the appropriate users. Another application provides users with the ability to make a purchase or exchange value. Smart cards provide data portability, security and convenience.
Uses include:
• Secure logon and authentication of users to PC’s and networks
• Secure B2B and B2C e-commerce
• Storage of digital certificates, credentials and passwords
• Encryption of sensitive data |
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| Social enterprise: |
| A social enterprise is a business with primarily social aims whose surpluses are reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to deliver profits to shareholders and owners. |
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| Stakeholders: |
| Stakeholders are those groups and/or individuals who are effected by, or can effect, the purchasing decision. |
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| Test title: |
| this is where the description will go. |
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| Thresholds: |
| The EC Public procurement Directives apply to contracts above certain thresholds. For up to date information on the values of the thresholds, see the Public Procurement State of Play document, available at www.ogc.gov.uk (click on ‘Procurement Policy and EC Rules’) |
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| UK Regulations: |
| Implement the EC Directives and are a form of secondary legislation. The Public Procurement Regulations are made by way of Statutory Instruments, under Section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 |
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| Value for Money: |
| Optimum combination of whole-life cost and quality to meet the user’s requirement |
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| Whole life costs: |
| Whole life costing is based on the principle that financial, environmental and social costs accrue to each part of a product or service during its whole life cycle, not just at the point of buying and using the service. Purchasers should consider the key stages of a product/service’s lifespan – design, raw material, sourcing, manufacture, delivery, use and disposal and identify the potential social, environmental and economic impacts and costs both positive and negative for each stage when evaluating a range of products. When taking this approach is often the case that the cheapest purchase price is not always the best value when comparing products over their whole lifespan. For assistance with whole life costing see the Joint Procurement Policy and Strategy Group (www.jppsg.ac.uk). They have modified an existing whole life cost model to enable the user to include sustainability criteria into their assessment of purchases. |
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| Whole Life cycle: |
| The whole life cycle of a product or service includes the following key stages: design, extraction of raw materials and resources, manufacture, distribution, use and end disposal. Each stage requires the use of raw materials and energy as well as human input in terms of knowledge and labour. Its stage also involves inefficiencies and waste of resources that could be reduced and even eliminated through better management and design. Purchasers should think about the key environmental and social impacts at each stage of the products life to get a more holistic view of their overall impact. |
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