Supplier Charter

Suffolk County Council has developed a Supplier Charter, which outlines the council's committment to its suppliers and the council's expectations of its suppliers.

Introduction

Suffolk County Council has an annual expenditure on goods and services of over £350m. To meet this need we require a range of suppliers who are innovative and proactive and will work with us to minimise costs and meet changing requirements.

We are committed to conducting our purchasing activities with suppliers in a fair, honest and legal manner with openness and integrity, and expect suppliers to operate to these same principles.

We will not give unfair advantage to any particular supplier or type of supplier[1] and will award contracts on the basis of value for money, not simply lowest price, in accordance with the European Union procurement legislation. However, we will work closely with local business and voluntary organisations to ensure that local providers can compete effectively for the Council’s contracts.

This Charter is aimed at all organisations that have contracts with the Council to provide goods, services or works. This charter does not relate to service level agreements or grant agreements. The Charter is not a legal document, but is intended to outline the Council’s commitment to its suppliers and the Council’s expectations of its suppliers.

The Council’s commitment to suppliers

In all its commercial dealings the Council will:

• treat all suppliers and potential suppliers with courtesy, honesty, integrity, impartiality and objectivity;
• be as open and informative as possible to all participating suppliers throughout the purchasing process;
• ensure that all tenderers have equal access to information;
• promote prompt payment, and pay within 30 days in accordance with our own guidelines and the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Act 1998;
• respond to enquiries and complaints courteously and in a timely fashion;
• carry out all purchasing activities to the highest ethical standards and in line with relevant legislation.

We will:

• provide contact points for all procurement related enquiries;
• advertise contracts in a range of publications, including the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) for larger contracts, and the national opportunities portal, www.supply2.gov.uk;
• work with local business and voluntary sector support organisations to promote the opportunities for businesses and social enterprises to work with Suffolk County Council;
• have transparent, fair and equal procurement processes that provide opportunities for all suppliers to compete for the council’s business;
• set out on our website our contract renewal programme for the next five years; ( link to Contract Renewal Programme);
• comply with diversity and equality legislation, seeking to recognise the value of a diverse supply base, and encourage a wide range of suppliers, including local businesses, Small and Medium Enterprises, Black and Minority Ethnic Enterprises, Disabled Owned Businesses, Women Owned Businesses, Voluntary and Community Organisations and Social Enterprises, to compete for council business.
• set out our procurement processes and estimated timetables clearly;
• provide clear and concise specifications avoiding over-specification and unnecessarily onerous contract terms and clearly stating any quality standards to be met;
• when tendering, only request information that is legally required, needed for monitoring purposes or necessary for the evaluation of tenders;
• assess potential suppliers against stated pre-qualification and tender evaluation criteria that are relevant to individual tenders, and avoid setting hurdles which will unreasonably exclude new or small businesses;
• debrief and provide constructive feedback on request, as fully as possible, whilst preserving confidentiality;
• provide feedback on supplier performance;
• aim to make tender documentation accessible in a range of formats if requested.

We expect that our suppliers will operate to the same high standards as we set ourselves, managing their social, economic and environmental impacts responsibly, and that they will:

• observe standards of integrity, professionalism, co-operation, courtesy, competence and efficiency including in the treatment of our staff, their staff and subcontractors;
• read carefully, and comply with, the evaluation criteria and the instructions for completing the tender and documentation;
• be pro-active in suggesting ways to reduce cost or wastage whilst maintaining or improving the quality of the product/service;
• provide early warning of issues and problems;
• have internet and email access (or use an agent who has), in order to take advantage of the Council’s contract opportunities advertised on the Council website, OJEU and www.supply2.gov.uk, and the council’s e-tendering and e-mail ordering processes;
• pay subcontractors in accordance with agreed terms;
• be open to enquiries from potential subcontractors;
• comply with Suffolk County Council’s Environmental Guidance for Suppliers minimising adverse impact
• comply with equality legislation;
• respond within 5 working days if consulted on the release of information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. If the supplier has objections to the released of any information held by the Council, the supplier must provide written evidence that an exemption under the Act is likely to be engaged, eg, when there is likely to be significant prejudice to commercial interests. The Council will then consider this evidence in light of other considerations, including the public interest where appropriate, before making an independent decision on the release of information in accordance with the law.

Whistleblowing policy

The Council operates a whistleblowing policy. Suppliers and individuals who believe that malpractice has occurred, either in the award of contracts by the Council or the delivery of services by its contractors, may contact the Whistleblowing Officer, Eric Whitfield, in strict confidence.

[1] We may reserve certain tendering opportunities for supported businesses, employment programmes or factories (i.e. those employing more than 50% registered disabled staff) as part of our wider programme of support for disabled persons