Contract Register & Invitations To Tender

Contracts Register

The following provides information on all Contracts, Framework Agreements or other commissioned expenditure in excess of £5,000 in accordance with the Local Government Transparency Code 2015. To assist you, we have also provided an explanation of the data fields contained within the Contracts Register. Please also refer to explanatory notes below for further explanation of the data published here and how it interacts with other expenditure data published by the Council.

Invitations to Tender & Requests for Quotation

The following provides information on all open Invitations to Tender, or Requests for Quotation in excess of £5,000 which the Council has published.  This information is provided in accordance with the Local Government Transparency Code 2015.  Please refer to the explanatory notes below for further explanation of the data published here and how it interacts with other expenditure data published by the Council.

Explanatory Notes

Trafford is part of a shared procurement service called STAR Procurement along with Rochdale, Stockport and Tameside councils. The STAR Procurement website includes a page containing Pipeline reports, available to download for each council. These reports, which are updated and published at the end of each quarter, include an 18 month look forward on contracts expiring, so it can be seen what may be up for renewal.

Invitations to Tender & Requests for Quotation

Open Invitations to Tender and Requests for Quotation are used in a competitive tendering process in which suppliers are able to participate in an open procurement process for the supply of specific and clearly defined supplies, services or works; usually for a specified period of time (the Contract Period).

The information published on this page relates to all open Invitations to Tender or Requests for Quotation published by the Council on The Chest (the Council's electronic procurement portal), for opportunities with an estimated value of £5,000 or above and for the period defined.  All currently advertised opportunities can be found by filtering on Trafford Council in the search facility of the Current Opportunities section of The Chest.

Contracts Register

There are occasions when data fields within the Contracts Register have been redacted for the following reasons:

1. Personal Data. Data is redacted if it would identify an individual in the context of their private life
2. Commercial Confidentiality.  Where the release of information could prejudice the conduct of business or was provided in confidence
3. Other.  Where revealing information would compromise security, health & safety or crime prevention

Generally

The Council manage four distinct processes:

1. Tendering
2. Awarding a contract
3. Ordering supplies, services or works via a purchase order
4. Paying an invoice / awarding a grant

This means that the same or similar information may be duplicated in these various datasets published by the Council elsewhere on this site.  An example is given below:

A contract for supply of stationery to the Council is advertised via an Invitation to Tender.  It is subsequently awarded to a stationery supplier for a specified period of time.  A purchase order is then raised to buy stationery.  The stationery is delivered and an invoice is submitted to the Council for payment. This information will be variously contained in the Invitations to Tender & Requests for Quotation declaration, the Contracts Register declaration, the Purchase Orders declaration and the Council’s Expenditure Data.

It is likely that the values contained in these various information sources will not reconcile.  This is because the data captured/held in each information source is different and actual spend varies over time. For example, the example, the Invitation to Tender records the estimated maximum value for the full contract term at the point that the tendered opportunity is advertised.  The Contract Register will record the estimated Annual Value and estimated Total Value over the planned duration of the Contract.  Purchase Orders may reflect requirements over a much shorter time, or a single “call off” of requirement from that Contract.  The Council’s expenditure declaration reflects payments actually made for the actual supplies, services or works ordered.

Definitions

1. Contracts.  Documents evidencing a legally binding agreement between two or more parties. Purchase Orders may be raised against these Contracts.  If the estimated value of a Contract is or exceeds £5,000 it will be listed within the Contracts Register published on this page until such time as that Contract has expired or been terminated.
2. Framework agreements.  Legally compliant routes to pre-selecting suppliers who are able to provide the Supplies, Services or Works required.  If the estimated value of a Framework Agreement is or exceeds £5,000 it will be listed within the Contracts Register published on this page until such time as that Framework Agreement has expired or been terminated.  Call-off Contracts are then awarded to those appointed suppliers when the Council requires the specified Supplies, Services or Works.  If the estimated value of a call-off Contract is or exceeds £5,000 it will be separately listed within the Contracts Register published on this page until such time as that call-off Contract has expired or been terminated.
3. Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS).  This is similar to a Framework Agreement, with two exceptions.  (1) New suppliers can join at any time; and (2) it is a completely electronic process.  Rules around publication of a DPS and call-off Contracts data are the same as a Framework Agreement (see above).
4. Invitations to tender and Requests for Quotation.  Are open advertisements to the market which represent opportunities for interested parties to express an interest in participating in a competitive procurement process for the provision of supplies, services or works to the Council.

This data set is provided under the terms of the Open Government Licence.  You will see that this licence encourages you to download and re-use our data. If you have queries in respect of the data published on this page, please contact us at data.protection@trafford.gov.uk specifying the name of the file you are referring to, the unique contract reference, what additional information you require.