Procurement is the process we use to get the goods and services we need to serve our communities. We try to secure best value from our contracts while supporting quality and innovation.

The Shared Procurement Service is hosted by Crawley Borough Council which provides advice on all aspects of procurement sourcing, strategy, tender management and contract management to its partner Councils which include Horsham District Council, Mid Sussex District Council and Mole Valley District Council. The service was formed in 2010 by a group of West Sussex districts and boroughs and has expanded more recently to include a district council in Surrey.

The Service is not a purchasing or contracting body, however suppliers should communicate directly with the Service on all procurement matters rather than individual authorities.

We provide advice to client departments on any aspect of procurement and offer support and guidance to suppliers looking to do business with any of the Councils in the partnership.

The team can be contacted via: procurement@horsham.gov.uk or call 01403 215299.

All council opportunities above a value of £50k are advertised on the South East Shared Services e-sourcing portal (SE Shared Services e-Sourcing Portal), where applicable. The portal requires you to register and create a free account in order to access tender documents and submit a bid. The portal gives suppliers access to opportunities within the Shared Procurement Service as well as authorities from across Surrey, Sussex and Brighton & Hove.

Suppliers will be required to use the portal throughout the procurement process and the council will not communicate with bidders outside of the portal.

The portal should be used for asking questions and submitting your tender or quote.

We do not hold lists of approved or preferred suppliers. We do not retain any marketing information we receive; you must therefore register on the portal to access any tender opportunities we have. Lower value procurements may not be advertised on the portal and are likely to be managed directly by the individual council departments.

Through our procurement processes the councils are committed to delivering value for money services that also support economic, environmental and social improvements in the communities we serve.

Through our procurement process we want to promote responsible supply chains and work with suppliers who can help us deliver our ambitions and priorities.

A key element of our procurement process will be to ask suppliers to commit to delivering on our social value priorities, the extent of this commitment will be dependent on the value of the contract.

All procurement activity undertaken is done in a transparent, fair and consistent way as required by the Public Contract Regulations 2015 and World Trade Treaty Principles. The rules the council must follow are set out in the council’s Constitution which acts as the ‘rule book’ that governs the processes by which the council conducts its procurement. The rules apply to all purchases by the council of goods, works and services. It does not apply to contracts of employment or acquisitions and disposals of land or buildings.  

In order to tender or quote for contracts, suppliers will need to meet some minimum requirements for example, appropriate insurance levels, evidence of financial stability, compliance with relevant legislation and policies such as health and safety, anti-corruption, modern slavery and human trafficking etc. where appropriate.

The council’s current rules set out the procurement route to be used to procure goods, services or works depending on the value of the contract. These are detailed below. The council is also able to utilise Framework Agreements as an alternative way of procuring, without advertising.
 

* Thresholds are inclusive of VAT. Previous thresholds were exclusive of VAT.

For more information about doing business with the Councils please see our how we procure guide.

Please note that this register is a work-in-progress, and may be missing information. Any information not currently on the register is either not held, or held in a format that is not readily available. Work is ongoing to collate this information, and updates to the register will be published on a quarterly basis.