Procurement

The Authority is responsible for purchasing a wide range of products and services, including:

• IT suppliers and services

• Estate services

• Operational equipment

• Vehicles

• Uniform

• PPE

• Training services

• Consultancy

Collaboration

LFRA Procurement Department works closely with four other North West Fire and Rescue Authorities (Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cumbria and Cheshire) to collaborate on procurement activity. Collectively this group is known as the North West Regional Procurement Team (NWRPT).

The Authority also collaborates with other emergency services, local authorities and other public bodies when it is advantageous to do so.

On occasion, it is appropriate for LFRA to utilise existing collaborative Framework Agreements or Contracts, such as those provided by the Crown Commercial Services (CCS) or other public buying organisations.

Governance

The Authority has a Procurement Strategy which defines the role of the Procurement function in the delivery of LFRA’s commitment to providing the best value for money. This document identifies procurement’s priorities aligning with local, regional and national procurement policy and the critical actions required to deliver the strategy.

As a public sector organisation, LFRA has to ensure it undertakes procurement activity in a transparent, fair and equitable way. The Authority has a duty to comply with the Public Contracts Regulations (2015), as well as internal procedures. The Authority sets out the way it buys Goods, Works and Services in its Contract Standing Orders although some general guidance is provided below.

Routes To Market

The Authority uses a web-based e-procurement platform for all purchases over a value of £25,000. We advocate that all potential suppliers to the North West Fire Authorities register on our e-procurement platform. For any queries or issues, please email our team.

. Please note that there is no charge to register but the registration process must be fully completed to allow the system to alert you of potential tender opportunities. Suppliers must ensure their contact details are kept up to date to receive alerts. Once registered suppliers can browse through contract notices for free and express an interest to participate in the advertised opportunities.

The procurement procedure utilised will depend on the estimated value of the contract:

• For Goods or Services between £25,000 – £213,477 a UK tender procedure will be followed.

• For Goods or Services over this value, a FTS tender procedure will be followed.

• For Works between £25,000 – £5,336,937 a UK tender procedure will be followed.

• For Works over this value an FTS tender procedure will be followed.

All of these opportunities will be advertised on the Supply4NWFire portal and on Contracts Finder. In addition, all FTS tender procedures will be advertised in the Find a Tender Services

The Authority may also wish to use a compliant framework agreement to purchase Goods, Services and/or Works.

Typically, these are available from Crown Commercial Services or other public buying organisations. If a framework is used the guidelines for that framework will be followed.

The Tender Process

The Authority will publish an advert using the appropriate online media:

• Contracts Finder

• Supply4NWFire

• OJEU

For tendering opportunities between £25,000 – £213,477 for Goods and Services, and between £25,000 – £5,336,937 for Works.  The Procurement process can take one of two routes

For tendering opportunities above these thresholds a range of FTS procurement processes are available to the Authority.  The most widely used processes are the Open and Restricted procedures

Any process which involves a Suitability Assessment or a Pre-Qualification Questionnaire will assess the potential suppliers and only a nominated number of bidders will be invited to submit a tender.

The process may also involve other activities such as bidder days, presentations and interviews if deemed appropriate. All bidders will be aware of these requirements at an early stage in the procurement process.

Bidders will need to submit a completed tender response on the Supply4NWFire portal by the time and date specified in order for the bid to be considered. There is more guidance for suppliers regarding the completion of tenders available in our Do’s and Don’ts advice.

The Authority will open all electronically sealed bids and commence evaluation of the responses following the return deadline date and time. Evaluation will be undertaken by a panel of suitably qualified and experienced officers utilising the contract award evaluation criteria specified in the tender documentation. All tender evaluation will use a Most Advantageous Tender (MAT) approach. This approach requires the Authority to determine the relative weightings it should attribute to quality and price (cost). The weightings will vary for each procurement project depending on the Goods, Services and/or Works being procured.

Once all of the bids have been evaluated, the bidder(s) with the highest score will be identified as the preferred bidder(s).  Internal requisite approval to award the contract will be obtained and all bidders will be notified of the outcome.

A legally binding contract will be put in place with the preferred bidder(s) and business can then commence.

Documentation

The Authority uses a range of standard templates to undertake its business with suppliers – these are updated and amended as required for each contract.

All purchase orders are subject to the Authority’s standard Terms and Conditions of Contract

The Procurement Act 2023

The Procurement Act 2023 is due to come into effect in October 2024 and will impact suppliers to Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service.

The video below explain the changes and what you need to know as a supplier.