Please can you provide information on the authority’s procurement policies and thresholds as relevant to software licencing? In particular:
1. Below what value threshold software licences can be purchased without requiring a competitive tendering process (in £, specifying whether this includes or excludes VAT), and whether this limit applies annually, per individual transaction etc.
DCC financial regulations are detailed below as extracts from procedures:
Quotation and Tendering Procedures 2.1 Apart from particular types of contract specified in section 3, the minimum required numbers of tenders or quotations to be invited from appropriate contractors for a given estimated value of contract are: · Above £1,000 and up to £2,500 (£5,000 for works) two oral quotations: · Above £2,500 (£5,000 for works) and up to £10,000, Invite three organisations to submit written quotations; · Above £10,000 and up to £100,000, Invite three organisations to submit written formal quotations submitted by a specified date and time and based on a written specification and evaluation criteria (referred hereafter as “formal quotation”); · Above £100,000, and up to Public Procurement thresholds, invite four organisations to submit tenders; · Over Public Procurement thresholds, invite organisations to submit tenders in accordance with the requirements of the Public Contract Regulations. The values are for single items or groups of items, which must not be disaggregated artificially. From 1 January 2022 the sterling equivalents of Public Procurement thresholds (including VAT) are £213,477 for supplies and services, £5,336,937 for works and £663,540 for contracts falling within the light-touch regime and £4,551,413 for concession contracts. The Public Procurement thresholds are changed on 1 January of each even-dated year. The Procurement Officer will advise Heads of Service of these changes.
DCC have a neutral vendor software supplier contract in place with Specialist Computer Centre for which licences can be purchased.
Frameworks that allow for a direct award of contract which would be considered on a case by case basis.
All values exclude VAT.
2. Up to what value threshold (in £, specifying whether this includes or excludes VAT), single tender actions / direct awards can be considered.
Exemption from the Tendering and Formal Quotation Process 2.21 Where the subject matter of a contract is of a specialised nature with only one or a limited number of possible contractors or where exceptional circumstances have arisen, the Head of Service shall submit a written report requesting an exemption from normal tendering or formal quotation rules to the Procurement Officer. The authorisation requirements for exemption requests are as follows: · The Procurement Officer may determine such requests in respect of formal quotations up to £50,000. · The Procurement Officer in conjunction with the Director of Finance and Public Value may determine such requests between £50,000 to £100,000. · The Director of Finance and Public Value may determine such requests above £100,000 up to the relevant legal threshold in line with Part 3 of the Constitution following consultation with the Cabinet Member whose remit includes Procurement. Tenders subject to the Public Contracts Regulations shall be subject to exemptions contained within those Regulations. Exemptions in regard to [Social Care Contracts] are set out below in paragraphs 3.2 – 3.6
All values exclude VAT.
3. What the policy or process is for deciding whether to use a single tender action / direct award.
Please refer to previous answers.
4. Whether there is any requirement for software providers to the authority to be members of any procurement frameworks e.g. GCloud
DCC do not ask suppliers to join public sector frameworks, that is at their discretion.
If these questions can be most easily answered by sharing the authority’s overall procurement policy, please feel free to do so.
Information about procurement can be found on our website.