QMU Annual Procurement Report - Glossary of Terms
Glossary of Terms
A, B, C and C1 Contracts (Who buys what?)
| Category A |
Collaborative Contracts available to all public bodies
|
|---|---|
| Category B |
Collaborative Contracts available to public bodies within a specific sector
|
| Category C |
Local Contracts for use by individual public bodies |
| Category C1 |
Local or regional collaborations between public bodies |
APUC’s Code of Conduct - APUC and its client community of colleges and universities is committed to carrying out procurement activities in an environmentally, socially, ethically and economically responsible manner and to entering into agreements and contracts with suppliers that share and adhere to its vision. To demonstrate this commitment, current and potential suppliers are asked to acknowledge their compliance with the principles of the APUC Supply Chain Code of Conduct with respect to their organisation and their supply chain.
BT14 – Sustainability Based Benefits - sustainability benefits where costs are not normally relevant can be reported but will normally be described in narrative including but not limited to the following areas:
- Reduction in waste – packaging and / or further use of residue from processes etc.
- Reduction in consumption - use of raw materials (consumables, utilities etc.)
- Recycling and/or reuse of products
- Enhanced Reputation and/or marketing opportunities
- Community Benefits delivery
- Carbon Reduction
Social, equality and / or environmental improvements
Category Subject is a collection of commodities or services sourced from the same or similar supply base, which meet a similar consumer need, or which are inter-related or substitutable.
Community Benefits are requirements which deliver wider benefits in addition to the core purpose of a contract. These can relate to social- economic and or environmental. Benefits. Community Benefits clauses are requirements which deliver wider benefits in addition to the core purpose of a contract. These clauses can be used to build a range of economic, social or environmental conditions into the delivery of institutional contracts.
Contracts Registers 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).
Cost Avoidance The act of eliminating costs or preventing their occurrence in the first place. It tends not to show up on, but materially impacts, the bottom-line cost and is normally referred to as a “soft” cost saving i.e. negating supplier requests to increase costs, procuring services/goods/ works under budget, obtaining prices lower than the market average/median.
Contract management or contract administration is the management of contracts made with customers, suppliers, partners, or employees. Contract management activities can be divided into three areas: service delivery management; relationship management; and contract administration.
EU regulated procurements are those whose values require that they are conducted in compliance with the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 and the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014. compliant with the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 and the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.
Flexible Framework Self-Assessment Tool (FFSAT) enables measurement against various aspects of sustainable procurement.
Hub (Spikes Cavell) - The Scottish Procurement Information Hub is provided by Spikes Cavell as a spend analysis tool allowing organisations to: -
◾Identify non-pay spend on external goods and services
◾Identify key suppliers and how many transactions are made with each
◾Highlight common spend across suppliers and categories
◾Identify spend with SMEs and/or local suppliers
This information means that individual organisations and Centres of Expertise can identify where collaborative opportunities might exist and where transactional efficiencies could be made.
For more information, visit the Scottish Government's Hub page.
Hunter - Hunter has been developed by the eSolutions team. It is a database solution which uses standard Microsoft packages (Access and SQL Server) enabling organisations to effectively monitor and report on collaborative contracting activities.
As a solution, it is operational within the HE/FE sector in Scotland and is also being utilised by the HE consortia in England and Wales that also provide collaborative contracting services to the sector. Hunter has a multi-level structure which allows consortia to share collaborative agreements, make them visible to their member organisations, and in turn enabling them to record their own contracts.
Institutional Dashboard - is the area within the APUC Buyers Portal being developed by the APUC eSolutions team providing easy access to institutions’ key management reporting data being recorded centrally through Hunter. The dashboard currently hosts key regulatory procurement information on Contracts Registers, forward contracting plans, expenditure reporting and APR Data. The list of reports is planned to expand to cover savings and PCIP dashboard data.
Lotting - the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 encourage the use of lots (regulation 47), to promote competitiveness and to facilitate the involvement of SMEs in the public procurement market, by considering the appropriateness of dividing contracts into lots to smaller contracts
OJEU thresholds OJEU is the Official Journal of the European Union, the gazette of record for the European Union. Around 2500 new notices are advertised every week - these include invitations to tender, prior information notices, qualification systems and contract award notices. The European public contracts directive (2014/24/EU) applies to public authorities and the following thresholds will apply to procurement carried out whose value equals or exceeds specific thresholds. The present thresholds are (net of VAT): - for Supply, Services and Design Contracts, £189,330, for Works Contracts £4,733,252. Public contracts (EU) thresholds are revised every 2 years – this is next due on 01/01/2022.
Output Specification requirements are set out in terms of what you want to achieve, leaving the tenderers to decide on how they will deliver those requirements. This can lead to innovation by the tenderers. The services detailed in the output specification should be capable of objective assessment so that the performance of the supplier can be accurately monitored.
Prioritisation - the Sustainable Public Procurement Prioritisation Tool which is a tool to aid all procuring organisations across the Scottish Public Sector designed to bring a standard structured approach to the assessment of spend categories.
Procurement Journey is public procurement toolkit with guidance and templates on the procurement process to facilitate a standardised approach to the market and contract and supplier management.
Procurement & Commercial Improvement Programme (PCIP) replaced the previous Procurement Capability Assessment (PCA) and focuses on the policies and procedures driving procurement performance and more importantly, the results they deliver.
PCS (Public Contracts Scotland) is the national advertising portal used to advertise all public sector goods, services or works contract opportunities.
PCS-Tender is the national eTendering system, and is centrally funded by the Scottish Government. The system is a secure and efficient means for buyers and suppliers to manage tender exercises online. The standard templates enable buyers to create consistent tender documentation.
Segmentation the division and grouping of suppliers or contracts in relation to spend and its criticality to business.
Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) encompass –
Micro enterprises: enterprises which employ fewer than 10 persons and whose annual turnover and/or annual balance sheet total does not exceed £1.57 million.
Small enterprises: enterprises which employ fewer than 50 persons and whose annual turnover and/or annual balance sheet total does not exceed £7.86 million.
Medium enterprises: enterprises which are neither micro nor small, which employ fewer than 250 persons and which have an annual turnover not exceeding £39.28 million, and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding £33.78 million.
Social Enterprises are revenue-generating businesses with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to deliver profit to shareholders and owners.
Supply Chain encompasses all activities, resources, products etc. involved in creating and moving a product or service from the supplier to the procurer.
Supply Chain Management Programme (Sustain) is the APUC supply chain sustainability web portal, a central hub where sector suppliers can complete and store sustainability compliance data. The portal is the core supply chain sustainability tool supporting HE and FE institutions and their suppliers in delivering a transparent, environmentally positive, ethical and socially responsible supply chain
Supported business means an economic operator whose main aim is the social and professional integration of disabled or disadvantaged persons, and where at least 30% of the employees of the economic operator are disabled or disadvantaged persons.
Supported employment programme means an employment programme operated by an economic operator, the main aim of which is the social and professional integration of disabled or disadvantaged persons, and where at least 30% of those engaged in the programme are disabled or disadvantaged persons.
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 and generates benefits, not only for the organisation but also to society, the economy and the environment.
Third-Party Expenditure is calculated based upon the total value of invoices paid per annum, excluding VAT, to all suppliers for the purchase of goods and services. It is defined as including: goods – tangible products such as stationery, which are often also known as supplies. Services – provision of an intangible product such as refuse collection, elderly home care, whether carried out internally or externally. Works – including construction works and utilities – energy costs. It excludes employee costs, non-cash expenditure (e.g. depreciation), grants, trust payments and other non-controllable payments to other publicly funded bodies but should include spending on agency staff, capital expenditure and programme spend on commodities and services.
