Procurement
We carry out best practice procurement in line with the requirements of the Cabinet Office. We are focused on achieving value for money, transparency and ensuring the fair and equitable treatment of our suppliers.
E-tendering
We use online procurement tools to ensure we meet our best practice ambitions. Depending on our requirements we use either Crown Commercial Service or the Home Office's eSourcing portal.
These sites provide a suite of tools to enable our procurement team and our suppliers to carry out the whole procurement process online. They also provide an efficient, simple, security accredited and compliant means for managing tendering activities. This helps to reduce the time and effort required for both buyers and suppliers.
Potential suppliers should register with both portals to be able to:
- register and express an interest in a procurement opportunity
- participate in tendering activities by downloading, completing and submitting proposals
Prompt payment policy
We follow Government policy on the payment of invoices. All correctly submitted invoices are paid within 30 days of receiving them.
Data handling and security
Organisations wishing to supply us with goods or services must ensure that they comply with our security procedures. There are different schedules to follow based on the amount of data that is managed by a supplier.
We take data security very seriously and are required to give assurance that both personal information and sensitive data is handled appropriately and protected throughout the supply chain. Suppliers may therefore need to understand and comply with the supplier aspects of the Security Policy Framework.
Terms and conditions
Suppliers should always refer to the specific terms and conditions issued as part of a procurement tender exercise.
Our purchase orders (documents that ask a company to supply goods and give details of price, method and date of payment) are subject to our terms and conditions.
Please contact us directly to get the later copy of our terms and conditions.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
We want to buy from SMEs every time they are the best value for money. Find out more about bidding for government contracts in the doing business with Government: guide for SMEs.
Social and environmental policy
We will, when appropriate, look to incorporate additional social benefits and environmental requirements through its procurement activities.
Contact us, or provide feedback
We value feedback from existing and prospective suppliers. Any feedback you provide will have no influence whatsoever on your involvement in any future tendering opportunities. We will always try to address any issues that are raised where we feel we can improve what we do.