Account manager
The main contact person for the supplier. The account manager will manage the day-to-day operation of the contract on behalf of the supplier organisation and is the single point of contact for St George’s, University of London to escalate issues around contract performance during the term of the contract. It is the role of the account manager to implement procedures to ensure that St George’s receives good customer service.
Agreement
The written contract between the supplier and St George’s, University of London, consisting of terms and conditions, the purchase order, the tender, the invitation to tender and any resulting contract (all as applicable) and any documents/correspondence referred to therein.
Agresso
Agresso Business World 5.5 is the university’s financial system used for purchasing goods and managing our revenue and expenditure. To purchase goods either externally or internally, a requisition must be raised through Agresso, which generates a purchase order once the expenditure is approved by the appropriate authoriser(s).
Audit trail
A historical record of all price quotations, communications, transactions, advice and evaluations. Checks can be made by St George’s, University of London’s auditors and regulatory bodies to ensure that procurement processes have been carried out in a transparent, fair and non-discriminatory manner.
Benchmarking
A process to test whether both the standard and price of goods/services is in line with an equivalent market standard (if applicable). It is done without any formal competitive tendering.
Budget holder
Person accountable for expenditure from, and income to, particular budgets.
Business case
A document which explains how the preferred option would be implemented and how it can be best delivered. The preferred option is refined to securing best value for money for the public purse. Project management arrangements and post-project evaluation and benefits monitoring are also addressed in the business case.
Buyer
Party which acquires, or agrees to acquire, ownership of goods/services in exchange for money or other consideration under a contract of sale. Also called a purchaser.
CIPS
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) is a professional body representing the purchasing and supply sector.
Collaborative procurement
Achieving value for money for institutions through partnerships between institutions and suppliers. Collaborative procurement delivers a better product – the combined purchasing power of combined public sector bodies gives economies of scale that has more leverage than St George’s, University of London visiting the market alone. This means better quality for the same price or more of a product for a lower price. Quality and savings are directly passed onto the university.
Consignment stock
St George’s, University of London collaborates with four preferred life sciences suppliers and stores live key laboratory consumables supplies in fridges/freezers on site for constant availability. Divisions draw on stock according to need and the supplies are continuously replenished by suppliers.
Consortium
A group of private sector bodies who have joined together to bid for a project. The lead body must submit proposals to St George’s, University of London on behalf of the consortium.
Contract
The written agreement between the supplier and St George’s, University of London, consisting of terms and conditions, the purchase order, the tender, the invitation to tender and any resulting contract (all as applicable) and any documents/correspondence referred to therein.
Contract term/period
The period from the commencement date to the date of expiry set out in the purchase order; or such earlier date of termination or partial termination of the contract in accordance with the law or the provisions of a contract.
Contract variation
For an instruction issued by St George’s, University of London to suppliers to constitute a variation, the modifications, omissions and additions need to form part of the scope of work with the supplier under the agreed contract.
Declaration of conflicts of interest
Before members of the evaluation panel participate in the tender evaluation process, they are required to declare that they have no personal or financial interests in any of the suppliers that have submitted proposals, and confirm that they will objectively assess proposals solely based on the content in the proposals against the evaluation criteria set for the requirement by St George’s, University of London.
Deliverables
Outcomes to be delivered by the supplier to be listed in the purchase order and/or the tender.
Devolved purchasing
Delegated purchasing authority to business areas for the purchase of routine, one-off or low-value/risk goods and services under £100,000.
Due diligence
Procurement Services, with input from the relevant areas of expertise, making a thorough assessment of whether the supplier meets St George’s, University of London’s minimum requirements to enter into a contract. Areas assessed include financial, insurance, organisational and legal standing. Credit ratings may be checked via Dun and Bradstreet reports.
E-procurement
The business-to-business or business-to-consumer purchase and sale of supplies and services through the internet, as well as other information and networking systems, such as electronic data interchange and enterprise resource planning.
EU directives
The European Union public procurement directives will affect most procurement undertaken by St George’s, University of London. When aggregated spend for a good or service over a period of up to four years is approaching £139,893, the spend may be subject to regulation by the EU procurement directives and regulations, including the requirement to follow one of the prescribed forms of OJEU tendering procedures.
Evaluation criteria and weightings
The EU directives requires that potential tenderers should be aware of all the elements to be taken into account by St George’s, University of London in identifying the economically most advantageous offer and their relative importance when they prepare their tenders. Contracting authorities must disclose contract award criteria and their weightings no later than in the invitation to tender (ITT) or invitation to quote (ITQ). If sub-criteria are being used, those criteria and their weightings (if any) must be disclosed in good time to inform preparation of bids.
Evaluation panel
Ideally, evaluation panels should be selected at the pre-tendering stage and all members given a copy of the procurement timetable. The timetable will show when their input will be required. An evaluation panel should comprise a minimum of three members to ensure a fair and objective decision is reached. It is recommended that the evaluation panel includes at least: representation from the major budget holder or the project manager and someone with specialist knowledge and/or industry experience in the services/supplies/works/utilities required.
All panel members are required to sign a declaration of conflicts of interests before commencing the evaluation of proposals and confirm that they understand their responsibilities as a panel member. Panel members should be provided with a copy of the evaluation model to be used and a scoring sheet. Panel members should be inducted on how to score proposals, to ensure there is a consistency of approach.
Framework agreements
Agreements with suppliers, the purpose of which is to establish the terms governing contracts to be awarded during a given period (no more than four years), in particular with regard to price, scope of agreement and quality. A framework agreement is a general term for agreements with suppliers which set out terms and conditions under which specific purchases (call-offs) can be made throughout the term of the agreement.
Invitation to quote (ITQ)
Used when discussions with bidders are not required, mainly when the specifications of a product or service are already known and when price is the main or only factor in selecting the successful bidder. Products, services or suppliers may be selected from the invitation to tender (ITT) against pre-determined evaluation criteria and weightings.
Invitation to tender (ITT)
An ITT involves more than a request for the price. ITTs often include specifications of the item, project or service for which a proposal is requested. The more detailed the specifications, the better the chances that the proposal provided will be accurate and outline in detail potential risks and benefits to the organisation. ITTs provide an indicative budget, timescales for delivery and essential criteria and weightings that proposals will be evaluated against.
Generally, ITTs are sent to shortlisted suppliers. The bidders return a proposal by a set date and time. Late proposals may or may not be considered, depending on the terms of the initial ITT. The proposals are used to evaluate the suitability as a supplier, their capability, innovation and proposed approach to deliver the goods/services. Clarifications may be made on the proposals (often to clarify technical capabilities or to note errors in a proposal). In some instances, all or only selected bidders may be invited to participate in presentations/discussions. Other requested information may include basic company information and history, financial information (can the company deliver without risk of bankruptcy), technical capability, product information such as stock availability, lead-times and estimated completion period, and customer references that can be checked to determine a company's suitability.
Invoice
An itemised list of goods shipped or services rendered. Usually specifies the terms of sale, supplier payment details and total amount outstanding, and quote an official St George’s, University of London purchase order number.
Kick-off meeting
Gathering of project team to discuss a plan or strategy before launching a program or project. When all stakeholders are present, it may be necessary at the kick-off meeting to agree the final dates on the project implementation programme in the service-level agreement (SLA) and to schedule future review meetings. If material changes are agreed during the session that require additional payment to the supplier for additions, modifications or omissions, the agreed terms will need to be documented through a contract variation.
KPI
Key performance indicator. The service-level agreement (SLA) will state the terms by which the supplier is expected to perform against, including percentages that they must meet in order to qualify for satisfactory performance with no penalties. KPIs are measured monthly against the SLA.
LUPC
St George’s, University of London is a member of the London Universities Purchasing Consortium (LUPC). The LUPC tenders for goods and services on behalf of all its member institutions and sets up agreements that member institutions can buy from.
Mini-competition
When suppliers that are capable of providing a good/service, on a panel under a framework agreement, are invited to submit proposals under the original terms and conditions governing the agreement. The evaluation criteria and weightings that supplier proposals will be assessed against must be the same as the criteria and weightings that were stated in the OJEU that was advertised to set up the framework agreement.
Negotiation
Discussion of counter-offers proposed by the supplier and conducted by Procurement, Legal (if required) and the project manager with the potential supplier to reach agreement on the legally-binding terms and conditions of any contract to be entered into between the parties and subsequent to any agreement reached on the commercial elements of the supplier’s proposal.
OJEU
The essential purpose of the EU procurement rules is to ensure that public bodies, such as St George’s, University of London, procure works, utilities, goods and/or services in a transparent and fair way. Therefore, we are required to advertise all tenders approaching the above value threshold in the Official Journal of the European Union.
OJEU competitive dialogue
All interested parties may express an interest in tendering for the contract but only those meeting St George’s, University of London’s selection criteria will actually be invited to do so. During the ‘dialogue’ phase, tenderers are able to discuss all aspects of the contract individually with St George’s. There may be several phases for dialogue, but once the dialogue has generated solutions to the agreed final requirements, final tenders are invited based on each tenderer's individual solution. The best tender can then be selected, but there is very limited room for any further changes to be made once submitted. This procedure can only be used in the limited circumstances described in the regulations.
OJEU negotiated procedure
There are two types of negotiated procedure. Under the negotiated procedure without prior advert, St George’s, University of London is not required to issue an OJEU notice and may negotiate directly with the supplier of its choice. Under the negotiated procedure with prior advert, however, an OJEU notice must be published. All interested parties may express an interest in tendering for the contract but only those meeting St George’s selection criteria will actually be invited to do so. Under the negotiated procedure with prior advert, tenderers are invited to negotiate the terms of the advertised contract with St George’s. The regulations do not set out any rules to govern the conduct of negotiations, which means that St George’s can, within certain parameters, establish its own procedures for the negotiation and tender stage. This procedure can only be used in the limited circumstances described in the regulations.
OJEU open procedure
All interested parties can submit a tender in response to the OJEU notice. The top scoring suppliers that meet St George’s, University of London’s selection criteria will be shortlisted for presentations of proposals if it is stated in the OJEU notice that presentations will count towards overall score of shortlisted suppliers.
OJEU restricted procedure
All interested parties may express an interest in tendering for the contract but only those meeting St George’s, University of London’s selection questionnaire (SQ) selection criteria will actually be invited to do so. A minimum of three suppliers must be shortlisted from the SQ stage.
Options appraisal
Option appraisals should be carried out when planning procurements for which there are a number of possible procurement routes to obtain the required goods/works/utilities or services. Costs, benefits, risks and timeframes for each option are outlined. This is to ensure that the procurement process and subsequent contract represent good value for money.
Preferred supplier
Preferred suppliers are suppliers that have been approved to provide a good or service for a set term after carrying out a competitive tender process. Suppliers have been pre-vetted to ensure that they are financially stable, have the experience and capacity to provide the good/service at a competitive price, and in line with St George’s, University of London/public sector policies and standard terms and conditions for provision of goods and services.
Procurement
Strategically sourcing, goods, utilities, works and services most appropriate for the purpose for which they are intended at the lowest total cost of ownership for the university.
Procurement policy
The procurement policy document sets out the rules governing all St George’s, University of London’s procurement activities to ensure compliance, consistency and transparency. The policy covers all transactions that commit expenditure for the provision of supplies, services, utilities and works on behalf of the university.
Procure-to-pay process
The procure-to-pay process (P2P) spans from the point where a purchase order is submitted to a supplier for fulfilment, to the eventual receipt, verification of the product, and payment for goods or services received.
Project manager
The person accountable for accomplishing the stated project objectives. Key project management responsibilities include creating clear and attainable project objectives, building the project requirements/specifications, and managing the constraint for projects, which are: cost, time, and quality. The project manager can also be the budget holder. The project manager is the one who is responsible for making decisions in such a way that risk is controlled and uncertainty minimised during the tender process and implementation of a contract/project. Every decision made by the project manager should ideally benefit the project.
Project sponsor
A project sponsor provides clear senior management ownership and leadership that are vital to the successful implementation of any project or programme. It is the link between the organisation’s projects/programmes and key strategic priorities.
Purchase order
St George’s, University of London’s purchase order form with a unique reference number that is generated by the finance system (Agresso/FRIS). The purchase order outlines a description of good/service, price, quantity and delivery point, and is signed by an authorised representative of each of St George’s and the supplier, to which St George’s standard terms and conditions are annexed.
Purchasing cards
Government purchasing cards are VISA-branded credit cards issued to named St George’s, University of London staff and are used to make purchases on behalf of the university. They are to be used for low-value, routine purchases to save time and cost in the purchase of routine supplies by eliminating the need for a purchase order to be raised and for an invoice to be processed for each transaction.
Regulatory bodies
Government departments and regulatory, statutory and other entities, committees, ombudsmen and bodies which, whether under statute, rules, regulations, codes of practise or otherwise, are entitled to regulate, investigate, or influence the matters dealt with in tenders/contracts or any other affairs of St George’s, University of London and/or the supplier.
Request for information (RFI)
A proposal requested from a potential seller or a service provider to determine what products and services are potentially available in the marketplace to meet a buyer's needs and to know the capability of a seller in terms of offerings and strengths of the seller. RFIs are commonly used on major procurements, where a requirement could potentially be met through several alternate means. An RFI, however, is not an invitation to tender, is not binding on either the buyer or sellers, and may or may not lead to an invitation to tender (ITT) or invitation to quote (ITQ).
Selection questionnaire (SQ)
A document often distributed before initiation of the invitation to tender (ITT) process. It is used to gather vendor information from multiple companies to generate a pool of prospects. This eases the ITT review process by pre-emptively short-listing candidates which meet the desired qualifications.
Seller/service provider
The person, firm or company with whom St George’s, University of London is considering entering into a contract with.
Service provider/supplier/contractor
The person, firm or company with whom St George’s, University of London is considering engaging or enters into a contract with as identified in the purchase order/contract.
Single point of contact
A point of contact within Procurement Services that gatekeeps all communication between the market and the project manager during a tender process to ensure that all suppliers participating in competitive tender process are on a level playing field.
SLA
Service-level agreement. The SLA is a schedule between a preferred supplier and St George’s, University of London, where the level of service is formally defined and agreed. Performance measures and expectations are expressed qualitatively, and quantitatively as percentages. Timeframes for delivery and responsibilities on both parties during the term of the assignment are also documented.
Specification/statement of requirement
The description of the goods/service to be supplied under the tender/contract as set out in the purchase order, including, where appropriate, the quantity of the goods/services, deliverables, and any applicable quality standards; the location to which the goods/services are to be delivered and, where relevant, installed; a description of any installation works to be carried out by the supplier or any staff; any equipment with which the goods must be compatible; the date(s) and time(s) of delivery of the goods/services and any necessary training or instruction to be given to St George’s, University of London by the supplier in connection with the use or maintenance of the goods/services. This document supplements the invitation to tender/quote (ITT/ITQ).
Stakeholder
The internal customers that are affected by the provision of the good or service and will have a direct relationship with the preferred supplier.
Strategic sourcing
Strategic sourcing involves analysing what goods and services the university uses in the highest volume/value, reviewing the marketplace, understanding the whole-of-life costs of using goods and services, mitigating risks, developing a procurement plan and executing a robust tender process in line with St George’s, University of London, EU and UK public procurement regulations to establish a strategic contractual relationship of mutual gain with suppliers.
Supplier debriefing
Providing feedback to unsuccessful/successful suppliers to improve their competitive performance, which means they have a better chance of winning future business, perhaps in wider markets. Providing and obtaining helpful feedback is regarded as general good practice for continuous improvements and maintaining future dialogue with the market.
Supplier review meetings
Meetings conducted at an agreed frequency between the preferred supplier and key stakeholder to discuss how well the good/service is being delivered against the agreed terms of contract. It is an opportunity for St George’s, University of London to discuss any outstanding issues and for the supplier to agree a remedy to rectify the issues.
Sustainable procurement
A process whereby organisations meet their needs for goods, services, works and utilities in a way that achieves value for money on a whole-life basis in terms of generating benefits not only to St George’s, University of London, but also society and the economy, while minimising damage to the environment.
Tenderers/bidders
When firms submit proposals for the right to run a service/good or gain a certain contract for a fixed number of years in response to invitation to tender issued by St George’s, University of London outlining our requirement.
Tendering
Sealed bid or offer document submitted in response to a request for tenders and containing detailed information on requirements and terms associated with a potential contract.
Terms and conditions for goods and services
St George’s, University of London’s general terms and conditions for the supply of goods and services. Our terms and conditions mitigate risks associated with providing the goods or services, and transfer risk to potential suppliers as far as is reasonable and practicable.
Total cost of ownership
Includes costs associated with ordering/purchasing, delivery, works for installation, repair, maintenance and disposal.
UK public procurement regulations
The government’s procurement policy is that all public procurement should be based on value for money, having due regard to propriety and regularity. It is the responsibility of all government departments and non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) to apply it.
St George’s, University of London is subject to a series of European procurement directives, implemented in the UK by the public procurement regulations, which regulate how the university purchases works, goods and services. These rules promote non-discriminatory, fair and transparent competition between suppliers of goods, services, works and utilities.
Value for money
The optimum combination of whole-life cost and quality (or fitness for purpose) to meet user requirements. On conclusion of a competitive tender process, the supplier that provides the most economically advantageous tender (MEAT) is appointed if they meet the minimum criteria set for the tender. The appointed supplier represents the most effective method of delivering the output specification at the most affordable cost.