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In common with many other public sector bodies we
are subject to a series of EU regulations which govern how we
purchase goods, services and works over a specified
value.
Any contracts over EU threshold contracts are advertised via the
Supplement to the Official Journal of
the European Union.
These thresholds only apply to certain services that need to be
advertised with the level for goods and services set at £144,371
and at £3,611,319 for works.
The thresholds are revised periodically to take into account
exchange rate fluctuations.
The regulations also stipulate timescales which must be adhered
to and which are intended to ensure suppliers are given a
reasonable time to respond to adverts.
This includes responding to requests for expressions of interest
as well as responding to invitations to tender.
There are different types of tendering procedures that can be
adopted, although we for the most part opt for the restricted
procedure.
This means that all companies who reply to an OJEU advert within
the time limits will be assessed against the stipulated
pre-qualification criteria and considered for tendering against
published criteria.
The best-qualified firms will be invited to submit a tender but
numbers will be restricted to that indicated in the original
advert.
OJEU notices are now published in electronic format and can be
accessed via an online data service provided by the
European
Commission. |