Corporate Procurement Overview

This page provides a high-level overview of the Procurement Process.

Procurement and Purchasing are often thought of as interchangeable terms; however, this is not the case. A definition of each one is given below:

• Procurement refers to the whole process from determination of the need to disposal of the asset or service following its use
• Purchasing meanwhile is a part of the procurement process usually involving the communication of a purchase order, receipting of the supplies, services or works ordered, and authorisation/payment of contractor/supplier invoices.

Corporate Procurement Manager:

The Corporate Procurement Manager is the responsible officer for procurement in East Dunbartonshire Council and, along with the Executive Officer - Organisational Transformation who is accountable for the service, determines corporate procurement strategy, policy and procedures.

Corporate Procurement Team:

The role of the Procurement team is to provide procurement advice and guidance, and to undertake tender/contract work of higher value or greater complexity for, and in collaboration with, service departments and teams.  

Departmental Staff:

Purchases, tenders and contracts with an expected value of below a defined threshold will be managed by departmental staff.

Authority to Procure:

All those with procurement responsibilities within the Council should be aware of Financial Regulations, the Scheme of Delegation, and Contract Standing Orders and Guidance Notes in relation to procurement.

In particular, Officers should be aware of the limit of their authority in regard to procurement and purchasing decisions, and what has been delegated to them by virtue of the Scheme of Delegation, details of which should be available in individual Role Profiles. Officers must also be aware of their responsibility to uphold control measures in relation to Segregation of Duties and Conflicts of Interest, for the avoidance of fraud. This requires that an Officer issuing a purchase order may not authorise the budget payment for that same purchase order.

If in doubt, Officers should consult their line manager, Internal Audit or the Corporate Procurement team for advice.

Conflict of Interest:

Officers must declare any potential conflict of interest, for example, where the Officer or a relative could benefit financially from an East Dunbartonshire Council contract.

Budget Availability:

It is the responsibility of the Officer initiating a procurement exercise to confirm that budget is, or will be, available.

A collaborative approach will be taken between the Procurement team and service departments in regard to management of tenders, contracts and suppliers/contractors. A Roles & Responsibilities Matrix, found on the Procurement Documents page, demonstrates the usual allocation of roles. For a specific contract, these may be varied, by agreement of Corporate Procurement and the service department.

A range of Council, Scottish Government and European regulations direct the procurement route to be used in each case.