CONTRACT PROCEDURE RULES - SPS Consultancy

FOREWORD BY CIPFA
Local authorities now take a wide view of
procurement and are addressing the numerous
issues within the National Procurement
Strategy for local government which in 2003
identified that local authorities spend over
£40bn a year providing essential services to
millions of people. Local authorities are also
implementing the various initiatives associated
with the Egan Rethinking Construction
agenda.
It is important that we all recognise the impact
that efficient and effective procurement of
goods, services and works have on service delivery. It is also vital that we
procure in an efficient manner whilst ensuring that optimum solutions are
delivered to assist the provision of high-quality front-line services to the
public.
To be fully effective it is vital that procurement processes operate
within the framework of a council’s corporate procurement strategy
that identifies the actions to be taken to ensure delivery of the council’s
community plan and corporate objectives. In 2003, CIPFA, together
with the Local Government Task Force, produced How to Develop a
Procurement Strategy – A Guide for Local Authorities. This publication
encouraged all those involved in procurement to look outside their
specific work areas by considering the wider picture within their
authority. It also advocated close working relationships between
procurement officers and their auditors, with a view to removing the
perceived obstacles to change.
I am now very pleased to welcome this update of the example contract
procedure rules that were included in the 2003 CIPFA publication. While
not intended to be a model, they illustrate how such rules may be written
in order to accommodate the principles of the National Procurement
Strategy and the Rethinking Construction agenda. I therefore strongly
encourage local authorities to use this document as the platform for
undertaking reviews of their contract procedure rules.
As with the earlier version, these example rules are based on those in
operation at Cambridgeshire County Council and again have been
produced in association with the Local Government Task Force.
CONTRACT PROCEDURE RULES
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