How to do Business with South Wales Police – A Guide for Suppliers
Mission Statement:
“To secure value for money for all goods and services procured by South Wales Police”
South Wales Police currently spends approximately £60 million each year on a wide range of goods and services, and achieving best value is essential.
The majority of police spend is with contracted suppliers who have been awarded contracts following a competitive tendering process. These contracts are awarded either directly by the Force or through regional or national collaborative arrangements with other police forces and public sector bodies.
The role of South Wales Police Procurement department is to provide specialist support to the force in relation to buying goods and services using a variety of contractual arrangements ranging from small simple orders to large projects.
The Procurement team is responsible for coordinating all of the Force's purchasing activity, to ensure that key objectives are achieved:
- Protection of the commercial and legal interests of the Police Authority.
- Compliance with European Union procurement legislation
- Offering best value for Force budget holders, and therefore ensuring that public funding allocated to the Force is spent responsibly
Key to assisting in the delivery of best value is a procurement strategy, which seeks to ensure continuous improvement in the Authority’s procurement activity through means of challenge, comparison, consultation, collaboration and increased competition.
South Wales Police Authority is committed to providing high quality services to meet both the current and future needs of local people. Effective procurement – based on a principle of value for money – will support the Authority in achieving this vision and meeting its corporate objectives. The Authority strives to ensure that its activities are undertaken with honesty, equality, integrity and transparency. The Authority sees its suppliers as having a key role to play, and as such, encourages competition and welcomes proposals from both new and established suppliers.
We aim to provide you with the information you need in order to understand and tender for business with us by offering advice on the procurement process. We will endeavour to :
- Provide up to date procurement advice and guidance
- Keep tenders documents simple and jargon free
- Utilise where appropriate the division of contracts into smaller lots
- Set realistic timetables
- Encourage suppliers to adopt efficient supply chain management practices
- Encourage suppliers to adopt systems that streamline processes, reduce administration time and enable the Force to make payments to suppliers in a timely manner