Selling to the Council

About Bracknell Forest

Bracknell Forest Borough Council (BFBC) is a unitary authority, created following the dissolution of the former Berkshire County Council in 1998. It is located in central Berkshire, approximately 30 miles from central London and between the M3 and M4 motorways. Covering an area of 10,937 hectares, it has a population of circa 110,000.

Designated a New Town in 1949, its growth and development were controlled by the Bracknell Development Corporation until 1982.

Purchasing in Bracknell Forest

The Council has a current spend of around £90m on bought-in goods and services spread across 4,500 suppliers and operates a highly devolved purchasing model, with purchasing authority resting with its four departments:

Education, Childrens Services and Libraries
Environment, Culture and Communities
Social Services and Housing
Corporate Services and Resources

Approximately 300 staff across these departments have involvement in procurement activity to some degree; purchasing in Bracknell Forest is largely a devolved function, carried out by officers within individual council departments. Corporate contracts, covering council-wide requirements are established by the Corporate Procurement Team who are also responsible for establishing policy and procedures.

The Council has formal Contract Regulations which set out in detail how purchasing will be carried out. These form part of the Council’s constitution. Council staff and the Borough’s schools must follow these rules. Competing bids must be sought and they must be fairly evaluated, Goods or services above £50,000 are subject to formal tendering processes; below £50,000, less formal quotations are generally sought and accepted via placing an official order, based on the council’s standard terms and conditions – see below.

Major contracts and opportunities within Bracknell Forest Borough Council are now advertised on the South East Centre of Excellence Portal. This can be found at www.businessportal.sece.gov.uk

Suppliers using the portal for the first time will need to read the Supplier Guidance Notes, which can be accessed from the portal.

EC Procurement Directives

Most contracts for goods and services expected (over their whole duration) to cost more than about £140k, must be advertised by the publication of a 'Contract Notice' in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) and must follow rules promoting non-discrimination and transparent competition. Strict timescales are stipulated, to ensure reasonable time for interested parties to respond to adverts and prepare submissions. Companies expressing interest are normally sent a pre-qualification questionnaire, the responses to which are used to determine the tender shortlist. Tender documents will outline the criteria to be used to evaluate bids but will generally be based on an assessment of the most economically advantageous offer taking account of not only price but whole life cost and related quality/service issues.

For works contracts the threshold for advertising in the OJEU is approximately £3.5m.

Selection of suppliers

Evaluation of potential suppliers will vary according to the value and nature of the potential business. For the supply of low value standard goods and services, competitive pricing and delivery will be the major factors, however for higher value, complex requirements, a formal commercial, technical and quality assessment may be required, possibly involving visits to the company's premises and/or reference sites.

Companies selected to become Bracknell Forest suppliers will join the ranks of a highly qualified and competitive supplier base. We expect our suppliers to be:

financially sound; we use an external credit reference agency but, for larger contracts may seek copies of accounts and annual reports. We expect suppliers to have been trading long enough to have published accounts and developed a client base. We operate a rule of thumb in most cases that your turnover should be at least 4x the total value of the contract offered.
technically competent - we may seek references from previous customers·
of sufficient capacity to handle the work
understanding of Bracknell Forest requirements and wider social responsibilities
easy to do business with - we expect attentive service and efficient invoicing processes.

Best value for money

Bracknell Forest Borough Council has a duty to obtain best value for money in its procurement and, to this end, its policy is to seek competition wherever possible. Factors such as safety, quality, reliability, maintenance, lifetime costs experience and continuity of supply are taken into account as well as price.

We seek to keep our procurement costs to a minimum by using the simplest and most economic contracting methods suited to our needs ranging from corporate purchasing cards for straightforward, low value work through to full tender/contract documentation for more complex, high value cases and for those which potentially exceed EU Procurement Directive thresholds.

We welcome innovative ideas and proposals from our suppliers, especially those exploiting technology to simplify processes and drive out cost, to ensure that we continue to obtain best value for money.

Terms and conditions

It is important that companies seeking to do business with Bracknell Forest Borough Council understand the terms and conditions on which our contracts are based.

Our Standard Terms Conditions are consistent with those in use by other major public sector purchasers and reflect the requirement for our suppliers to accept an appropriate share of commercial risk and to fully appreciate their obligations. Review our standard terms and conditions.

Environmental policy

As a major organisation, Bracknell Forest Borough Council is aware of and takes seriously its responsibilities for care of the environment and seeks, in the course of its day to day activities, to consider and respect environmental issues which are within its control. Bracknell Forest Borough Council similarly encourages its suppliers to develop and apply environmentally favourable solutions wherever possible and also to comply with all current environmental legislation. View our environmental policy.

Equal Opportunities policy

Bracknell Forest Borough Council is an equal opportunities employer and it expects all of its suppliers to respect and comply with this policy and to ensure that its sub-contractors and agents are made aware of the policy and are instructed to abide by it. Find out more about the Council’s Equal Opportunities policy.

Communications

Bracknell Forest Borough Council welcomes the opportunity to meet its current and potential suppliers and such visits help to improve communications. Suppliers are encouraged to maintain close liaison with customer departments within the Council concerning technical and service aspects of contracts.

Freedom of Information

For general advice on the Council's Freedom of Information policy:

Freedom of Information policy.

Fot details of how this applies to the tendering process:

Freedom of Information Policy applies to the tendering process.

Ethical standards

Bracknell Forest Borough Council staff are required to maintain the highest standards of integrity and impartiality in dealing with all suppliers and are subject to a strict code of ethics governing such dealings. Bracknell Forest Borough Council suppliers are similarly expected to employ the highest ethical standards whilst they are engaged on Bracknell Forest Borough Council business.

Find out more about the Council’s whistle-blowing policy.

Future developments

We are keen to continually develop our procurement function so as to keep costs to a minimum by utilising modern, best-practice purchasing techniques wherever possible. To this end, Bracknell Forest Borough Council has introduced, and is continuing to expand, its computerised purchasing and inventory management system and is currently trialling the use of corporate purchasing-cards to deal with routine, low value purchasing. We will consider any opportunities to further increase our internal purchasing efficiency by pursuing other commercial initiatives (e.g. Partnership Agreements and e-invoicing using xml). The support of suppliers in achieving this continued development is essential.

Current Contracts and Tendering Opportunities

For details of the Council's current major contracts and forthcoming tendering opportunities please refer to the following website: www.businessportal.sece.gov.uk