Doing business with the council

Find out how to apply for contracts to supply goods, works and services to us.

How we advertise

For an estimated contract value of:

  • £0 - £5,000 (before VAT) – our procurement process is to get a minimum of one verbal / written quote.  We are not required to publish this opportunity.
  • £5,000 - £25,000 (before VAT) – our procurement process is to get 3 written quotes (where practical).  We are not required to publish this opportunity.
  • £25,000 - £177,897 (before VAT)  – our procurement process is to get written quotes.  We publish these opportunities to Contracts finder and East Mids Tenders (procurement portal)
  • Public Procurement Threshold (before VAT) (as listed below) and above – our procurement process is a formal tender process.  We publish these opportunities to Find a tender service (FTS), Contracts finder and East Mids Tenders (procurement portal)
    • £177,897 (before VAT) for supplies and services
    • £552,950 (before VAT) for social care, health and other specified services that fall under the light touch regime
    • £4,447,447 (before VAT) for works

We also buy commonly used goods and services through Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO).  Please see Becoming an ESPO supplier.

Selection questionnaire

To help make the procurement process as accessible as possible, we use the standard selection questionnaire developed by the Crown Commercial Services.

Current procurement contracts

Contracts valued over £5,000 in total (over the length of the contract) are listed in the Contracts register.  The list includes some frameworks agreements let by ESPO that are used by the council.

If you have any queries about this information email commissioning.support@leics.gov.uk.

Early payment partnership (EPP) 

The early payment programme gives suppliers the opportunity to be paid as soon as the invoice is authorised, ahead of the 30-day terms.  
 
Benefits of EPP  
The Council believes that strong supplier relationships are essential in achieving our strategic goals. We recognise early payment can make a significant impact on the growth and development of a suppliers business. 

With the Early Payment Partnership, suppliers will benefit from: 

  • improved cash flow 
  • greater visibility across the Council 
  • reduced time spent chasing payments 

How does the EPP work

  • Suppliers sign up to a participation agreement that details the terms.
  • Suppliers agree to a rebate rate which is applied as the invoice is paid.  
  • The rebate is proportionate to the number of days the Council accelerate the payment by.  
  • The Council will target to pay those suppliers who participate on day 10.  
  • The rebate is only applied if the invoice is paid earlier than 30 days from the day the invoice is received as undisputed. 

To find out more about the programme visit Oxygen Finance - Leicestershire or email leicestershire@oxygen-finance.com. 

Modern slavery statement

This statement sets out Leicestershire County Council’s actions to understand all potential modern slavery risks related to its business and to put in place steps that are aimed at ensuring that there is no slavery or human trafficking in its own business or its supply chains. 

Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement 2022-23 PDF, 186.45 KB Opens new window

Supplier code of conduct

The Council (in conjunction with ESPO) has developed an ethical Supplier Code of Conduct which applies to all companies / organisations that do business with us. The purpose of the code is to set out principles to help suppliers to understand the standards and behaviours that are expected of them when working with the Council.

Supplier Code of Conduct  PDF, 207.84 KB Opens new window

Supplier portal

Leicestershire County Council operate an I-Supplier Portal, which allows suppliers 24 hour access to view the status of any purchase order, invoice or payment, as well as allowing them to make amendments to their supplier account on our Oracle system.

Suppliers using the portal will need to agree to the Terms and Conditions.

Terms of usage - supplier portal  PDF, 106.54 KB Opens new window

To gain access to the Portal:

If you're an existing supplier, send a request to financeservicedesk@emss.org.uk.

If you're a new supplier you'll be able to request access during the Supplier Registration, to which you will be invited by a Council contact.

Further information

Relating to east Mids Tenders

New suppliers and accessing opportunities

We use the East Mids Tenders (procurement portal) to conduct all of our procurement exercises. 

The system allows a full audit trail of communications with all tenderers to ensure full confidentiality of all documentation and correspondence until the deadline for the receipt of submissions. 

If you're seeking to provide goods and services to Leicestershire County Council or are responding to a public notice advertising an opportunity being let by the Council, please register your company on this site.  Once the registration process is completed, you'll have access to opportunities being let by Leicestershire County Council, which you may wish to express interest in.

The portal supplier help pages will assist you in registering your company, guide you to the opportunity you are looking for and how to respond to it.

Communications

Any correspondence issued to your organisation though the portal will be sent to the named registered person on the portal, for your organisation.  If your organisation has registered multiple contacts, communication will be directed to the person who expressed an interest in any specific contract on behalf of your organisation. 

Leicestershire County Council cannot be held responsible if the named registered person does not share information and / or documents supplied to them through the portal. 

We strongly recommend that once registered, your company registration is reviewed regularly to ensure that correspondence details are up to date.

Tender queries

If you need to contact commissioning support as a result of registering for a specific opportunity, you should only use the messaging function, which is contained within the relevant contract dashboard on the portal.

Opens new windo
Technical queries

The East Midl Tenders (procurement portal) is operated on behalf of Leicestershire County Council by Proactis and members of the commissioning support unit have no access to any of the supplier response processes.

If you experience any problems or require help, please read the reference guides available on the portal.  If you still require support, please contact the Due North technical support team by emailing procontractsuppliers@proactis.com which will auto-log a support ticket in the Proactis Supplier Support Helpdesk.

On logging a ticket, if you've not already logged one before, you'll be issued with a registration email that will give you instructions on how to log in, log, review and update your own tickets. 

In emergency situations you can contact the Supplier Support Service Desk on +44 (0)330 005 0352.  Telephone lines are open from 8.30am – 5pm Monday to Friday, excluding English public holidays. 

Please note: the technical support team will not be able to answer any tender related or contract opportunity specific enquiries. These must only be submitted through the messaging function.

Other queries

All other enquiries will be responded to as quickly as possible but if you know the specific commissioning support team member who deals with your requests, please send your email directly to them.

Invoice queries

Invoices and credit notes provides information on how to submit an invoice or a credit note to the Council.

If you're contacting the commissioning support unit to expedite invoice payments from the Council, you'll need to contact the Council representative who should be named on the purchase order you will have received prior to commencing work or providing services to the Council.

Further reading