What is Procurement?

Procurement is the way that all local authorities buy services and goods from someone else.

There are laws which say how services and goods need to be bought.

Every local authority has a policy and procedures which they must follow when they are buying goods and services.

Step 1

The Service Specification

The first thing that happens is that people meet to decide what service is needed.

They write down all the things that the service needs to provide. This is called a service specification. It is very detailed.

Step 2 - Advertising

The local authority advertises the need for the service in the local newspapers, it also may advertise in national newspapers and social work journals.

They ask all organisations or businesses that are interested to contact them for more details.

Step 3 -

Tendering

Organisations or businesses who want to provide the service write down how they will provide the service and what they will want to charge.

Step 4

Interview and Selection

Organisations are asked to come to meet the interview panel. The panel will ask the organisation to explain how they will provide the service.

The panel will then decide which organisation would be best at providing the service.

The organisation offering best value will get the contract.

Best Value

What does it mean?

Best Value means that the organisation that is providing the best quality service for the money gets the contract. The people who decide who get the contract have a look at the cost and the quality.

The local authority has to follow procedures to make sure that they have decided who will get the contract in a fair and open way.

Best Value

The local authority usually has a service user or carer on the panel. We want your voice to be heard.

We also think that people should be involved in deciding who they want to support them and how they want to be supported.

Consultation

Care planning involves service users and families during assessment process.

The local authority and other organisations are involved in planning services for the future.

The people responsible for planning services should listen to what people say they want from services.

Step 5

Contract Monitoring

The local authority will agree with the organisation how the service will be managed,

They will have regular meetings to make sure that the service is going well.

We will listen to what the service users and their families are saying about the service and decide whether it is good or we will talk about how the service can be made better.

What does it mean for me?

This guide has been written to help you understand what procurement is and why the local authority needs to go through a process when it is buying services.

The service is . . .