Purchasing and Contracts

The Purchasing and Contracts Section, is responsible for arranging contracts for the supply of goods and services to Lancashire Constabulary and, in some instances, to other police forces in the North West Region, which comprises Greater Manchester Police, Merseyside Police, North Wales Police, Cheshire Constabulary and Cumbria Constabulary.

Current Projects
The team are currently working on the following corporate contracts and projects:

• Stationery and computer consumables
• Copier paper
• Vending machines
• Force helicopter contracts
• E procurement - oracle financials
• Voice recording system
• Automatic resource location system
• Automatic call distribution system
• Integrated communications control system
• Digital recording and storage of interviews
• Various uniform projects
• Northwest supplier portal (development)
• Laundry service
• Dangerous dog kenneling
• Body armour (national contract)
• Central storage facility
• Custody medical services
• Officer safety training equipment
• Breathalyser equipment

Recently Awarded Contracts

• Workforce management system
• Emergency boarding service
• Public opinion surveys
• Childcare voucher scheme
• Vehicle repairs
• Detainees and victims of crime clothing
• Cleaning consumables & associated products (via NPIA)
• Translation/interpretation services (via GMP)
• Insurance services (via GMP)
• Managed vehicle recovery services (for Lancashire, Cumbria, North Wales and Norfolk)
• Random drugs testing services (via North Yorkshire)
• CCTV

Future Projects

• Aviation contracts including maintenance, insurance and pilotage
• Communications headsets
• Police procurement hub - Zanzibar
• Customer relationship management system
• Single number non emergency telephone access
• Vehicle hire
• Business travel
• Photocopiers
• Video witness (maintenance & support)
• Speed awareness
• Driver improvement
• Vehicle Maintenance Unit contracts
• Microsoft Enterprise Agreement

Purchasing Procedures

Our purchasing procedures are prescribed by statute and standing orders. The actual procedure for supplies and services is determined by the potential value of each contract.

Details are as follows:-

Contracts valued £5,000 - £55,000
Contracts in this category would not under normal circumstances be advertised. However, we are obliged to obtain a minimum of three written quotations or tenders.

Contracts valued £55,000 - £115,000
Contracts in this range would be the subject of a tendering exercise and, in this respect, an advertisement would normally appear in the local press.

Contracts valued £115,000 - £156,442
In addition to advertisements in the local press, contracts in this category would be advertised in relevant trades papers and or national publications such as Contrax Weekly.

Contracts valued over £156,442
These contracts must be advertised locally and nationally and a notice must be published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). This publication is issued daily on-line at http://ted.publications.eu.int
It should be noted that in some instances the Constabulary may decide to take advantage of an existing collaborative contract.

Tendering
We have, to a large extent, standardised our tender documents for the supply of goods across the North West Region.

When tendering, the Constabulary may opt for "open procedure" whereby you will receive a complete tender pack which includes the following sections:

• Introduction
• Instruction to tenders
• Operational requirements/specification
• Schedule(s) of prices
• Company information questionnaire
• General conditions of contract
• Contract award criteria
• Contract management and monitoring
• Delivery sites

If the "restricted procedure" is used you will be requested to complete a company information questionnaire/ for inclusion on the short list.

You will be required to complete all sections of the questionnaire which includes the following sections:-

• General company information including resources
• Technical experiences and references
• Financial details
• Insurances
• Equal opportunities
• Health and Safety
• Professional conduct

Advice
If you require any advice on how to tender for the Constabulary's requirements or require details about the products or services that are due to be tendered please call on 01772 412513 or 01772 412322.

Lancashire Constabulary is fully supportive of all aspects of diversity including ethnicity, race, religion, age, gender, disability and sexual orientation. In this respect, we welcome expressions of interest from the ethnic minority, disabled and other diverse business communities, in addition to the voluntary sector.

Tendering Opportunities
Please note that the Constabulary uses the following e tendering portal for the publication and notification of tendering opportunities http://www.bluelight.gov.uk/ Suppliers may register free of charge and will be notified of relevant tendering opportunities from a number of police forces throughout the UK.

In addition, further information regarding how to do business with the North West Region can be found at www.policeprocurementnorthwest.co.uk