Frequently asked questions

What are the EU Directives/OJEU/Procurement Regulations?

The European Union (EU) Procurement Directives and the Public Procurement Regulations that implement them in the UK set out the law on public procurement. Their purpose is to open up the public procurement market and to ensure the free movement of goods and services within the EU.

The rules apply to purchases by public bodies and certain utilities which are above set monetary thresholds. They cover all EU member states and as a result of other international agreements, they also extend to a number of other countries worldwide.

Where the regulations apply, contracts must be advertised in the Official Journal of the EU (the OJEU) and the procurement process must follow detailed rules for advertisement, qualification, selection and award. These rules are enforced through the courts, including the European Court of Justice.

Even when a purchase falls below the thresholds, public bodies are required to comply with the principles of the original EC Treaty of non-discrimination, equal treatment, transparency, mutual recognition and proportionality. This means that there must be a degree of advertising, sufficient to enable the supply market to be opened up to competition and the impartiality of the procedures to be reviewed.

Details of the current thresholds can be found at the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) website in the Procurement Policy and EU Rules section.

To view the University tendering system please visit: In-Tend 

To view adverts in the OJEU please visit the official EU website.

How will I get paid?

We endeavour to pay all our suppliers within 30 days, and aim to pay SMEs within ten working days by BACS transfer.

How is work awarded?

All of the University's tenders are run on our e-tendering platform 'In-Tend'.

It takes just minutes to register and you are able to view all of our open opportunities, regardless of value.

The University awards its work on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender "meat" which does not necessarily mean the lowest price. We will take into account quality, fitness for purpose and importantly the costs of ownership across the life of the goods or service. In all procurement processes we will identify what our award criteria are and their relative weighting when we ask for quotes or tenders. We will also try to explain what we are looking for with general criteria like "quality" or "technical merit" or "running costs". 

We will advise all those who have quoted who has been successful and how many applied, and for tenders will provide each tenderer with their results from the tender assessment against the best results. We will then publish our awarded contracts on our awarded contracts lists on these web pages. 

It is therefore important to read our specifications carefully to ensure that you understand our requirement and that you answer all our questions to demonstrate that you can meet our requirements.