Tendering to provide goods and services

We purchase a wide variety of goods and services - from small one-off purchases to large tendered contracts. A wide variety of organisations, from sole-traders to large multi-national companies, supply goods and services to us.

Find out about opportunities to supply to us

We advertise opportunities to supply goods and services to us on our tendering portal, and where relevant on the government's contract finder and EU OJEU portal Tenders Electronic Daily (TED).

You can register for free for all these systems and they will notify of relevant opportunities. You can also use the systems to respond electronically to all opportunities.

 

Our standard terms and conditions

We have standard terms and conditions for contracts with suppliers, which apply to all contracts unless an alternative is provided. These include:

Standard terms and conditions

Supplier Code of Conduct

All suppliers to LDC will be required to commit to the Supplier Code of Conduct in order to work with us. We expect all our suppliers to operate in full compliance with the laws, rules and regulations of the countries in which they operate and to seek similar commitments across their own supply chain. This commitment is in addition to any contractual Terms & Conditions which by their nature will be more detailed and service specific.

What to expect

Our process is set out in our contract standing orders, which are part of our constitution. In general:

  • For smaller value contracts, we will normally get a small number of quotes and award the contract to the lowest cost option.

  • For larger contracts we will request tenders, and provide a comprehensive tender pack that will include a specification of our requirements and a clear set of assessment criteria.
  • For very large value contracts we will follow a very formal and, where appropriate, a predefined EU process.

It is unusual for tenders to be awarded on the basis of price alone. We normally include a quality element in our assessment criteria. As such it's important suppliers respond fully to all questions in the tender pack. If there is anything in the documentation is unclear, suppliers can request clarification. This can be done using the contact details and key dates are provided in the tender pack.

We have produced this document Selling to Lichfield District Council – a guide for suppliers and contractors  to give an insight into our processes and ways of procuring and to answer many questions that we are asked by new potential partners.

Procurement strategy

Read our procurement strategy that sets out our approach to procurement.

Managing contracts

Once we've awarded a contract it is then handed to the relevant service manager to oversee.

We monitor the performance of suppliers throughout the contract period, with the use of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). This will normally take the form of meetings, but can also include reporting and electronic communication.

Where performance falls below what has been agreed, we will raise this with the supplier who is expected to address this in line with the contract and standard terms and conditions.

Contact us

If you have any questions please email procurement@lichfielddc.gov.uk