NCL is a member of Advanced Procurement for Universities and Colleges (APUC) Ltd which is the Procurement Centre of Expertise. APUC Ltd works collaboratively with Universities and Colleges in setting up Framework Agreements on behalf of the higher and further education sectors in Scotland.

NCL where possible will utilise existing agreements competitively tendered through Scottish and UK Procurement Consortiums/Centres of Excellence. This includes access to Frameworks from the Scottish Public Sector Contracts, established by Scottish Procurement (Scottish Procurement and Commercial Directorate).

Where agreements are not available the College will follow the internal guidelines to procure via Competitive Tendering, compliant to the processes determined by the thresholds detailed in the tendering policy.

NCL advertises all tenders above £50,000 through Public Contracts Scotland advertising portal. The advertising portal may also be used to smaller value requests for quotation.

Sustainable Procurement is defined as ‘a process whereby organisations meet their needs for goods, services, works and utilities in a way that achieves value for money on a whole life basis and generates benefits not only to the organisation, but also to society, the economy and the environment’. NCL is committed to achieving sustainable procurement by:

• Committing to the Supplier’s Charter
• Considering Whole Life Costs of goods and services procured;
• Considering the environmental and social impact of goods and services in the tender process, process, communicating and promoting sustainability to all employees and ensuring that it is included in the tender process where appropriate;
• Ensuring Community Benefits are considered in all major works contracts.
• Ensuring all potential Contractors to sign up to the APUC Ltd Supply Chain Code of Conduct or have equivalent polices in place.

The College operates an electronic ordering system which directly interfaces with the College financial package TechOne. The service allows routine purchases to be processed electronically from requisition to payment. The College endeavours to ensure that all requisitions raised are electronic and that TechOne is used consistently across the College.

The College utilise Public Contracts Scotland – Tender online electronic Tendering system, for all requirements above £50,000 for services and goods and above £2,000,000 for works.

NCL have adopted Contract Management Processes across the supply base. Risk/Spend analysis is carried out to identify key contracts which the College will effectively managed.

Contract Management is necessary to:

• Ensure the objectives of the Contract are delivered;
• Ensure the goods/services/works provided comply fully with the requirements as detailed in the contract specification and terms and conditions;
• Ensure the roles and responsibilities of those involved in the process are clearly defined and understood;
• Ensure all anticipated benefits are achieved;
• Ensure accountability and effective control of budgets;
• Provide evidence of regular contract monitoring and audit trail of issued raised and resolved; and
• Ensure continuous improvement in terms of quality, cost, sustainability and service.

What to do if you have concerns about a procurement exercise?

Suppliers and individuals who believe that maladministration has occurred either in the procurement process, the award of contracts by the college or in the delivery of service by contractors should write to or email the Chief Financial Officer - Iain.Clark@nclan.ac.uk.

How to complain about a tendering process?

We aim to ensure that all of our procurement processes are open, fair and transparent.

Organisations that submit tenders will be provided with feedback in relation to their bid and the evaluated scores that they achieved. This feedback will be provided in an award decision letter which included information on how a bidder has scored in comparison to the successful bidder and the areas in which their tender has scored less well. This should provide bidders with sufficient information to assist organisations to improved their submissions for any future tenders.

An organisation can request further feedback from us if they feel that the award decision letter does not fully explain the reasons for them not being awarded the contract. 

The letter and any further feedback will provide bidders with all the information they need should be minded to challenge the college's decision. 

If an organisation is dissatisfied with the standard of our response, action or lack of action or others working on their behalf they can complain by submitting a complaint through our complaints process.