Tenders and contracts
What do we do?
West Lancashire Borough Council spends approximately £21 million on supplies, services and capital projects each year, providing businesses with a wide range of commercial opportunities. The council's priority is to secure the best value for money, and we are always happy to discuss our contracts and procurement arrangements with potential suppliers in order to achieve this.
If you're interested in becoming a supplier to West Lancashire Borough Council, these pages will help you understand the procurement process that we operate.
- West Lancashire Borough Council Procurement Policy (PDF, 343kb)
- West Lancashire Borough Council Procurement Strategy 2024-2029
Although tenders follow a similar format, the requirements of each tender are different and so a basic outline is all that is practical. This information is based on this council's practices, but the principles are the same throughout local authorities. The council purchases its goods and services to its published Terms and Conditions of Contract. Sometimes it may use industry standard models or it may negotiate its terms - this will be made known when we approach the market for specific goods or services.
Procurement Act 2023
The Government have delayed the go-live date for the new regulations which will come into effect that will transform public procurement - the Procurement Act 2023. We can confirm that we are working towards a ‘go-live’ date for the new regime of Monday 24 February 2025, this is instead of the original planned date of 28 October 2024.
This is an important piece of legislation that will change the way the public sector buys goods and services.
Our key suppliers will have received a letter from West Lancashire Borough Council, outlining the changes and our plans to prepare for the launch.
You can find the letter in full, here
Tenders and contracts links
- Tender opportunities
- What we buy, how we buy and what we look for
- Quotations and tenders process
- Tender assessment criteria
- Tender method statement
- How tenders are decided
- How to improve business opportunities
- Relationships with suppliers
- Purchasing terms and conditions
- Contracts & Transparency Register
Social Value Policy
The West Lancashire Borough Council Social Value Policy requires suppliers of large contracts outline how they can improve the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of the Borough.
All procurements over the threshold for open tender, as defined in the Contract Procedure Rules, will include a 10% total award criteria to social value and consider:
- If and how what is being procured could improve the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of the area in accordance with the Councils Vision and Priorities and
- How social value elements could be included as part of the specification and as part of the scoring and evaluation process
For more information and to view the full Social Value Policy - Social Value Policy (pdf, 625KB)
