Procurement at BEIS

Details about procurement at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and information for those looking to become a supplier.

Department for
Business, Energy
& Industrial Strategy

How procurement works in BEIS

BEIS buys a wide range of services, goods and works to meet our needs. A dedicated commercial team works closely with project and delivery teams to source the best contracts to deliver what is required.

Our aim is commercial excellence at the heart of BEIS, realising value, managing whole life commercial risk and providing commercial support and advice to the delivery teams.

Initially we take a view on whether the required goods or services can be provided in-house or can be bought through an existing contract or framework agreement. We use Crown Commercial Service (CCS) frameworks to procure our common goods and services. For low value and one-off purchases, we use the government procurement card.

BEIS takes the following approach to procurement:

for low value orders up to £10k, we acquire multiple quotes to ensure value for money
for tender opportunities above £10k, we publish details of the opportunity on the Contracts Finder platform
for above threshold procurement opportunities (currently over £123k for goods and services and £4,730k for construction works), we publish details of the opportunity on the Find a Tender service and Contracts Finder

We are committed to running procurements through fair and open competition wherever possible and we comply with the Government Commercial Function standards.

We work in collaboration with our shared service provider UK Shared Business Service (UKSBS) who manage most of the lower value common goods and services procurements on our behalf.

Transparency

BEIS is committed to the government transparency agenda and publishes information about its commercial activities to support accountability to the public and achieve better value for money. In particular:

details of tenders and contract documents over £10k are on Contracts Finder
monthly spend transactions over £25k are published on data.gov.uk

Please note that if you are awarded a BEIS contract over £10k, the contract between your organisation(s) and BEIS will be published on Contracts Finder. In some circumstances, limited redactions will be made to the contracts before they are published to comply with existing law and for the protection of national security, personal privacy and commercially sensitive information.

BEIS procurement pipeline

BEIS provides a forward look of anticipated commercial activity over the next 18 months in the procurement pipeline. It includes a range of opportunities valued over £10k and is regularly refreshed. Note that as circumstances change some procurements will not proceed and the timeline, value and requirements of others may be impacted.

Opportunities available

BEIS advertises 4 types of opportunity on the Contracts Finder website. These are:

early engagement: we use this to gather feedback from industry on procurement ideas and to find out about new and innovative services
future opportunities: information about procurements that are likely to be published in the future
opportunities: live invitations to tender for a new contract
awarded contracts: notices of completed procurements that have been awarded to suppliers

Opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

The government definition for an SME specifies fewer than 250 staff, combined with balance sheet or turnover thresholds. Check whether your business qualifies as an SME.

BEIS recognises the importance of SMEs to the UK economy and the agility and innovation they can bring to supplying goods and services:

the BEIS SME Action Plan demonstrates our past performance and future commitment to supporting SMEs. It also sets out the actions we will take to make BEIS a more SME-friendly place to do business
in some areas such as development of clean energy sources, BEIS works with suppliers to develop innovative solutions, using Innovation Partnerships or the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) route to market. These approaches bring together government challenges and innovative ideas from businesses to create new solutions to national problems
the Help to Grow programme enables small and medium sized businesses across the UK to learn new skills, reach new customers and boost profits
our Together for our Planet Small Business campaign aims to get small and micro businesses to commit to becoming net zero in the run-up to the COP26 conference in November 2021
the UK Business Climate Hub provides a one-stop-shop of information for those who want to act and where businesses can sign up to the globally recognised small business climate commitment

In BEIS we encourage SMEs to bid for contracts and monitor the amount of departmental spend with SMEs directly (by winning contracts) or indirectly (through supply chain spend). These are our recent figures:

Organisation	Spend	2017/2018	2018/2019	2019/2020
BEIS	Total spend with SMEs (millions)	£411	£456	£463
BEIS	Spend with SMEs as % of total	33.4%	35.1%	32.3%
Whole government	Total spend with SMEs (millions)	£12,391	£14,197	£15,540
Whole government	Spend with SMEs as % of total	23.7%	25.7%	26.7%

See all central government departmental SME spend which includes BEIS.

Some of our largest areas of spend with SMEs are:

IT
Professional Services
Research

The Small and Medium Business Hub provides useful information for SMEs who would like to work with government, including:

information about the Crown Representative for small businesses
the doing business with government for SMEs guide
the Federation of Small Businesses website provides information on working with government and raises awareness of issues affecting small businesses

Commercial policies

BEIS follows the public procurement policies which are set out in the policy procurement notes (PPNs). Read the Crown Commercial Service public procurement policy guidance.

Contract Terms and Conditions

BEIS uses a range of standard Terms and Conditions, which are issued to potential suppliers as part of the tender documentation. Where purchases are not supported by a specific written contract, the standard terms and conditions must be accepted to participate.

Model Services are used for services contracts with a value of £20 million or more
Mid-Tier is used for all contracts over the procurement threshold and up to £20 million
Short form are used for all contracts with a value below the procurement threshold
BEIS T&Cs for services
BEIS T&Cs for supplies (goods)

BEIS T&Cs are sometimes used instead of the Mid-Tier contract for non-complex contracts over the procurement threshold.

See the current procurement thresholds.

BEIS also expects all our suppliers to follow the government supplier code of conduct that explains expected behaviours and standards.

Prompt payment

At BEIS, we aim to pay our suppliers promptly and follow the government’s prompt payment policy. Invoices must specify the purchase order (PO number) to be valid. We aim to pay all compliant invoices as soon as they have been authorised by the officials responsible for the purchase order and encourage all our suppliers to do the same in their supply chains.

BEIS publishes its prompt payment data quarterly. We aim to pay 80% of valid invoices (and 90% of valid SME invoices) within 5 days of receipt. All invoices should be paid or resolved within 30 days.

BEIS supports the Prompt Payment Code which requires large UK companies to pay small businesses within 30 days, and all other suppliers within 60 days.

BEIS now applies the Social Value Model to above threshold procurements. This applies at least 10% of the evaluation weighting to assess how well potential suppliers will contribute to the public good in delivery of the contract.

BEIS will identify one or more of the following themes to assess how potential suppliers will:

help local communities to manage and recover from the impact of COVID-19
tackle economic inequality by creating new businesses, jobs and skills, as well as increasing supply chain resilience
fight climate change through effective stewardship of the environment and reduce waste, water and greenhouse gases
drive equal opportunity through narrowing the disability employment gap and reducing workforce inequality
improve health and wellbeing and community integration

The BEIS commercial team has undergone training to implement the new model into each procurement and to consider how appropriate social value can be achieved in every contract above threshold.

For more information, look at the Social Value policy procurement note.

Public Sector Equality Duty

BEIS has due regard under the Equality Act 2010 to the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) in all our procurement and related activity.

We abide by the aims to:

eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Act
improve equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it
foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it

We evaluate procurement on a case-by-case basis and make sure that when contracting out a service or public function to which the PSED applies, the supplier meets the requirements.

For more information on procurement and the PSED please refer to procurement policy note 01/13 and the Equality Act 2010 legislation.

Sustainable procurement

Sustainable procurement is a process where the government meets its needs for goods and services in a way that improves sustainability outcomes on a whole commercial lifecycle basis. It drives positive socio-economic impact and minimises damage to the environment throughout the global supply chain, whilst achieving value for money.

As BEIS is the lead department in government for net zero policy, we are improving sustainability through our supply chains and regularly engage with our suppliers to ensure they understand their part to play in achieving sustainability. We apply the social value model effectively when appropriate with well-defined targets to improve sustainability, and take account of Carbon Reduction Plans in relevant contracts.

We also make sure we meet the Government Buying Standards when buying goods and services.

Modern slavery

BEIS is determined to eliminate modern slavery and human trafficking in direct suppliers and through supply chains. We are taking steps to reduce the risk, including:

using the social value model to identify and address risks of modern slavery in new procurements (especially ICT hardware and electronics, construction, and service staff such as cleaners and catering)
raising awareness of the risk of modern slavery in our supply chains and training staff on how to carry out modern slavery risk assessments
encouraging new and existing suppliers to use the modern slavery assessment tool (MSAT)
applying government wide guidance on excluding bidders for public contracts who have been convicted of certain modern slavery offences under the Modern Slavery Act within the last 5 years

In line with government requirements, BEIS will publish its first modern slavery statement in September 2021 and annually thereafter.

For more information, read the government wide modern slavery statement.

Feedback

Feedback to BEIS

BEIS values feedback to improve our procurement process and supplier relationships. If you have concerns in any procurement, please contact the commercial lead identified in the tender documentation.

The Public Procurement Review Service

If you feel you have been treated unfairly during the procurement process or are concerned with late payment, the free to use Public Procurement Review Service investigates public sector procurement processes and finds improvements that can be made by contracting authorities.

Small Business Commissioner

The Small Business Commissioner (SBC) is an independent non-departmental public body that ensures fair payment practices for Britain’s 5.7 million small businesses, and provides support for resolving payment disputes with larger businesses. If you are a small business, you should raise your complaint by contacting the SBC directly.