The University has a small central Purchasing Team which is based in the Finance Department at the University.  The Purchasing Team provide advice and assistance to departments on good purchasing practice and participate in the majority of major procurement exercises conducted by the University.

The University aims to achieve value for money in all its procurement activity based on whole life costs, whilst taking into account sustainability, social and other economic factors in accordance with EU Procurement Regulations and the University’s Purchasing Policy and Procedures.

Tendering

As mentioned above, the University operates a devolved budgeting system. For the majority of our core purchasing requirements we endeavour to aggregate our requirements and let “framework agreements / contracts” to nominated suppliers. The majority of these “framework agreements / contracts” have been let in accordance with EU Procurement Regulations following competitive tendering exercises and many agreements generally let in collaboration with other institutes of Higher Education.

The University does not operate an “Approved List” on which potential suppliers can register.  Any supplier wishing to undertake business with the University or tender for the University’s business should initially make contact with the Purchasing Office or relevant key contacts