Procurement

Treaty principles

The Treaty principles are built in to our tendering processes and our policies and strategies on procurement. The Treaty principles are:

• equal treatment: meaning that we must treat all comparable situations in the same way
• transparency: meaning that we must advertise our contract opportunities, suppliers must be able to understand how we will evaluate tenders before they are returned and we must limit the amount of discretion that we have when awarding contracts
• proportionality: meaning that we must use suitable ways of achieving an outcome that do not go beyond what is necessary

Best value

We are under a general Duty of Best Value to consider a combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness when awarding contracts to suppliers. Where contracts are for providing services to service users we will make sure that they meet the needs of those customers.

Responsible procurement

We have a responsible procurement strategy, which explains our approach to social value, ethical sourcing, health and safety, equality and diversity, safeguarding and sustainability. We also have a responsible procurement guidance document for suppliers , which explains how our suppliers can take account of each of the policy areas in their tendering activities. Finally, we have explained how we will consider each of the policy areas in our tenders and contracts in the following policies:

Sustainable procurement policy and procedure

In line with the Devon Climate Declaration, we have released a Sustainable Procurement Policy and Procedure. Sustainable Procurement incorporates 4 key elements:

• Environmental sustainability
• Social Value
• Ethics
• Equality and Diversity

The sustainable procurement policy and procedure policy is aimed to help officers and suppliers during the procurement process.

Technical terms explained

Treaty - refers to the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union, which explains how the EU works.