Introduction

We spend around £9 million each year with a wide range of third party suppliers covering the provision of a range of bought-in goods and services. This guide will help prospective bidders understand us and the way we award contracts.

Our vision and promise states that: ssc logo

"We'll make South Staffordshire a safer and healthier place to live, work and visit with prosperous villages, thriving communities and a high quality environment."

To take a closer look at our plan click here.

It is important to us that our suppliers recognise and share that vision. Therefore we are seeking to do business with suppliers who are high calibre, committed to providing superb value for money, and who respect and support our local economy and the environment.

Large purchases and expenditure require competitive tendering. However, smaller items are bought on a more informal basis and provided that your goods or services have consideration for the environment and represent value for money, you stand a good chance of success.

We cannot discriminate in favour of local suppliers, but we encourage local suppliers to compete for contracts.

A lack of information about opportunities and a lack of understanding of our contracting procedures may be stopping some organisations from applying for Council contracts. We have developed this guidance to help overcome these difficulties and explain how to apply for contracts that are advertised and what is expected of organisations when working with us.

Potential Suppliers to South Staffordshire Council

We do not maintain any select lists, instead we create a short-list for each job which goes out to tender. This is done by:

Advertising for expressions of interest in the Offical Journal of the European Union if the contract value exceeds the current EU threshold (approximately £174,000) over its lifetime.
Advertising the potential contract on our website, if the contract value exceeds £50,000 but is not over the EU threshold. If you see a particular contract which is relevant you should apply to the officer named.

For smaller contracts the officer concerned will ask suppliers whom he/she knows and respects to submit a quote. If you wish to be considered for these smaller jobs, as and when they arise, then you may send to the general information about your company and its track record to procurement@sstaffs.gov.uk and this will be passed on to the appropriate Manager who may have interest in your area of expertise.

Sustainable Procurement

We operate an Environmental Management System (EMS) to measure and manage our own environmental impacts ems

As a purchaser of both goods and services, we have a key role to play in promoting environmental sustainability through our procurement activities, both through how and what we purchase and through our ability to encourage and influence our providers regarding environmental issues.

We aim to deliver social and environmentally sustainable contracts. All of our procurement contract items will be evaluated on environmental grounds.

We are committed to using our resources to ensure best value for money at the least possible cost to the environment. As part of this commitment to the environment, our procurement policy will, wherever practicable, focus on:

specifying less environmentally damaging products.
promoting greater use of renewable sources.
encouraging suppliers to use environmentally friendly practices throughout their processes.

When applying for certain Council contracts, you may be requested to supply evidence of your practices and procedures as they relate to the environment.

To help us embed our green procurement practices we consider best practice amongst other local authorities across Europe including guidance offered by the Local Authority EMAS and Procurement (LEAP) Project and from the Improvement and Efficiency West Midlands (IEWM) Procurement Hub, see under External Links below.

By adopting a more open and co-operative approach, both ourselves and our providers can work in partnership to continually improve our environmental impacts. As part of this, we request that all potential suppliers and contractors read our sustainable procurement guidelines and complete the appropriate questionnaire under links below.