Procurement

Selling to Cambridge Regional College

About Us

Cambridge Regional College has a small Finance Procurement Team which provides guidance and support to the College in relation to all procurement matters. This also includes managing all tender activities, issuing of purchase orders to suppliers, creating procurement strategies and working with suppliers to deliver value for money and added value for the benefit of learners. The team is managed by Noel Cassidy, Procurement Manager.

Preferred Supplier to Cambridge Regional College

Cambridge Regional College has a preferred supplier list created by tendering its requirements for goods and services for a set period of time. All other purchases must conform to the College Financial Regulations which indicate how many quotations need to be obtained depending on the value.

Orders are checked by the Finance Procurement Team before being forwarded to a supplier via e-mail. Goods services must not be supplied to the College without a valid College purchase order received in advance otherwise payment will not be made.

All suppliers to Cambridge Regional College are required to comply with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 if legally required to do so.  Suppliers who are not legally required to comply are expected to observe the spirit of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

Unless agreed in advance by the College in writing, Cambridge Regional College standard terms and conditions for the supply of goods and services (copy included on the procurement web page) shall apply to all purchases of goods/services made by the college.     Suppliers who process College staff and student personal information are also expected to comply with General Data protection Regulations and may need to sign Annex A, data sharing and processing agreement (copy included within the standard terms and conditions).

All potential suppliers to Cambridge Regional College need to be aware that the College operates a zero tolerance approach to bribery and corruption and makes it a condition of contract that its suppliers shall comply with all applicable laws, statues, regulations to anti-bribery and anti-corruption including but not limited to the Bribery Act 2010.

Advertising Tender Opportunities

In addition to its own Financial Regulations, the College has to comply with Public Sector Procurement Regulations, the purpose of which is to encourage fair and transparent competition which is delivered via competitive tendering. The Public Contract Regulations 2015 tender thresholds from the 1st January 2022 for Services, Supplies and Works tenders is as follows:

The College conducts the majority of its tenders using the In-tend electronic tendering software although some may be advertised via other means.

To access current Cambridge Regional College tender opportunities click on the link below and follow the instructions on the In-tend website. You will need to register/log in before you can express interest in tender opportunities and view the tender documents however you do not need to register/log in to view the description of the tender.  Please note only tenders actually issued will be available to view. Further Competitions using a Consortium framework agreement are normally conducted via in-tend although on occasion we may use a Consortium website for this purpose, however only suppliers on the framework agreement will be able to view documents and participate.

To Register or view tenders on In-tend Click Here

Cambridge Regional College does not accept expressions of interest in advance of tenders being advertised, however we are happy to accept letters of introduction via e-mail to keep on file.

Cambridge Regional College uses two main methods to purchase goods and services.

• Official Purchase Orders
• College Mastercard Purchasing Cards (also known as Government Procurement Cards).

Suppliers must not accept an order from Cambridge Regional College unless they receive a valid official purchase order number which must be quoted on invoices or if the goods or services have been paid using a College Purchasing Card. No automatic rollover of agreements are accepted unless agreed in advance in writing and is signed by an authorised person on behalf of the College and is backed up by a College official purchase order or in the case of College Mastercard Purchasing Cards a signed agreement by an authorised College staff member. If in doubt please contact the College Procurement Manager.

Use of Central Purchasing Bodies

Cambridge Regional College also uses framework agreements set up by Central Purchasing Bodies/Consortiums such as Government Procurement Service, ESPO and Crescent Purchasing Consortium.

Framework agreements are tendered by the Central Purchasing Body and can be called off by Public Sector Organisations including Colleges such as Cambridge Regional College. Depending on the specific framework agreement and value, the College would normally conduct a Further Competition between multiple suppliers on the framework.

Whilst the College will decide which framework agreement (if any) best meets our requirements, agreements set up by the Crescent Purchasing Consortium are mainly used.

For more information on the becoming a supplier to the Crescent Purchasing Consortium please click here