Open data

Purchase orders and invitations to quote over £5,000

Transparency Code Metadata (Procurement)

Dataset Name/Title

Procurement Information - Purchase Orders and Invitations to Quote over £5,000

Organisation Code

http://opendatacommunities.org/doc/district-council/pendle

Why we publish this type of data/information

We spend millions of pounds each year on a wide range of goods and services. One of the ways in which we can achieve best value for the citizens of Pendle is to ensure that everything - from pencils to multi-million pound projects - is purchased effectively and efficiently.

We are continually looking for ways to improve our economy, efficiency and effectiveness and a key aspect of this is to improve the way we work, both corporately and in partnership with others to get the best deal in terms of both cost and quality.

We let a large amount of contracts in many different categories using a number of different suppliers and all are monitored throughout the contract period.

Other related information

We let a large amount of contracts in many different categories using a number of different suppliers and all are monitored throughout the contract period.

We define the period for contract management as from when a contract is awarded to when it ends. How we monitor each of these contracts over that time depends on a number of factors which include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Statutory requirements
  • Total contract value
  • Contract duration
  • Risks
  • Complexity
  • Contractual relationship e.g. partnering
  • Opportunity to improve

Where we believe that formal contract management is required, the contract documents will detail our requirements and may include things like:

  • The number of contract review meetings over a period
  • Provision of management information
  • Change control procedures
  • Escalation procedures
  • Evidence of compliance with service level agreements and/or Key Performance Indicators
  • Improvement targets

For contracts that have no formal contract management requirements e.g. purchase orders, we will manage these appropriately.

The following documents provide useful information about how we procure goods/services and details of key contacts. If you wish to receive a hard copy, email our Finance Manager.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy provides information to help businesses gain an understanding about public procurement and how to bid for public sector contracts.

The GOV.UK website also provides information for businesses tendering for public sector contracts. In addition, we advertise qualifying opportunities on TED (Tenders Electronic Daily) an online version of the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union.

What information is included in this data?

This data contains details of:

  • invitations to tender (ITT) to provide goods and/or services with a value exceeding £5,000
  • contracts, commissioned activity, purchase orders, framework agreements and any other legally enforceable agreement with a value that exceeds £5,000
  • grants to voluntary, community or social enterprise (VCSE) organisations

For these purposes the following definitions are applied:

Invitations to tender: these are used in a competitive tendering process in which qualified suppliers or contractors are invited to submit sealed bids for the supply of specific and clearly defined goods or services during a specified timeframe. These are also called request for tenders.

Invitations to quote/requests for quotation: Documents used in soliciting price and delivery quotations that meet minimum specifications for specific goods and/or services. RFQ are usually not advertised publicly, and are used commonly for (1) standard, off-the-shelf items (2) items built to known specifications (3) items required in small quantities or (4) items whose purchase price falls below sealed-bidding threshold.

Contracts: documents evidencing a legally binding agreement between two or more parties. This includes purchase orders that meet or exceed the £5,000 threshold.

Standing orders: these prescribe appropriate procurement practice by authorities and align different procurement process to spend thresholds.

Framework agreements: an overall umbrella contract covers a number of suppliers: contract data for individual contracts under the framework should be captured and reported in a contracts register format.

Contract Register: these typically provide details of the procurement exercise to capture key information about the contract (the goods and services, values, date started, expiry date, procurement category etc). The contract register should also include hyperlinks to the relevant documentation (redacted according to client confidentiality and sensitive information).

VCSE organisation: Voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors. The Code defines voluntary and community sector organisations as "a non-profit governmental organisation which is value-driven and which principally reinvests its surpluses to further social, environmental or cultural objectives." Social enterprise: A social enterprise is defined as "a business that trades for a social and/or environmental purpose."

Small and medium sized enterprise (SME): an SME is an organisation with fewer than 250 employees.

What information is not included in this data?

We are required to publish our existing household waste collection contract where there is one in place. However, as this is a service delivered in-house (i.e. by the Council) this is not applicable.

The following details are not included because the monetary content of this dataset is exclusive of VAT. The VAT status is captured within the 'Council Spending' dataset:

  • Irrecoverable VAT
  • Supplier registered charity number
  • Other supplier ID
  • SME supplier
  • VCSE supplier

This dataset does not include contract review dates but all our services are required to include mechanisms for effective contract management as part of their contract monitoring arrangements in accordance with our approved Procurement Policy.

Licence

This data is provided under the terms of the Open Government Licence.

How often do we publish this data?

Quarterly - we aim to publish this data on our website within a month following the end of the quarter to which the data relates.

For example, we will aim to publish our spend relating to the period April –June by 31 July.

What data systems do we use?

Data is extracted from the Council's Financial Management Information Systems provided by Civica UK and also from the online portal known as the Chest, used by a number of North West Local Authorities for electronic procurement e.g. Invitations to Tender (ITT).

What does each column mean?

The data contains fields for:

A. Organisation name - 'Pendle Borough Council.' Placing this on each row allows the data to be mixed with data from other councils.

B. Contract Reference number/ID this is either a unique local or OJEU code (dependent on the contract value).

C. Title of the Agreement - this is the name of the contract being awarded as per the definition in the original tender.

D. Directorate/service responsible (Dept) - this is the name of the council department responsible for the contract which adds accountability.

E. Service Category Label - this is the CIPFA SerCOP category used to identify the service responsible for the contract. This standardises descriptions to enable comparisons between different authorities.

F. Service Category Description - this provides a more detailed explanation of the CIPFA SerCOP label.

G. Description of goods and services - this gives details of the goods and/or services being provided by the contract and identifies the specific nature of the spend.

H. Contract start date - this is the date the contract started/went live.

I. End date - this is the date the contract is planned to end, where applicable.

J. Quantity - this is the number of goods or services required to be supplied.

K. Price - this shows the unit price of the goods or services.

L. Contract value - this is the sum of money to be paid over the length of the contract or the estimated annual spending or budget for the contract.

M. Supplier name - this is the full name of the supplier being contracted to supply the goods or services.

N. Tender process type - this is to indicate if the contract resulted from a request for quotation or a published invitation to tender or other.

Future plans for this data

To review and develop areas of compliance with the Local Government Transparency Code where the Council may not currently meet the full requirements owing to either system or operational constraints.

What data have we removed?

There are occasions where data has been replaced with:

  • REDACTED PERSONAL DATA where the data would otherwise identify an individual in the context of their private life
  • REDACTED COMMERCIAL CONFIDENTIALITY where a confidentiality agreement prohibits the council from naming a supplier
  • REDACTED SECURITY where revealing the name of a supplier would aid a malicious attack on our information, systems or processes.

What formats is the data available in?

CSV (Comma-separated values format) which can be used with most spreadsheet style programmes.

Open Standards Level of this data

Open data star rating

How to ask for more information

If you have any queries with the data provided, please contact the officer below.

Contact Details

Gemma-Louise Wells Gemma-Louise.Wells@pendle.gov.uk