Procurement at Defra

Details of Defra purchasing arrangements and information for those looking to become a supplier or contractor.

Defra uses external suppliers for goods, services and works including:

  • technical goods and services
  • corporate services
  • consultancy
  • research and development
  • ICT
  • properties
  • grants

Changes to procurement at Defra

The Procurement Act 2023 is new legislation that will change the way the public sector buys goods and services. It aims to:

  • create a simpler and more flexible commercial system
  • open up public procurement to new entrants
  • take tougher action on underperforming suppliers
  • embed transparency throughout the commercial lifecycle

The changes are expected to start on 24 February 2025. They were originally planned to start in October 2024.

The existing legislation will apply until 24 February 2025. After 24 February 2025, it will only apply to procurements and contracts that started before this date.

The new features for suppliers include:

  • a central digital platform
  • a simplified bidding process
  • more flexible commercial frameworks
  • a new duty on contracting authorities to consider barriers facing SMEs and VCSEs
  • a stronger exclusions framework

What suppliers need to do

If you are a supplier, you should:

If you are an existing or potential supplier to Defra and have live contracts or procurement that have started or will start prior to the new regime commencing, you will continue to be subject to the existing Public Contracting Regulations until the contract ends. The same principle applies to any contracts that are subject to any other associated procurement regulations, such as The Utilities Contracts Regulations.

If you have a question about the new procurement act, contact the Transforming Public Procurement helpdesk at: procurement.reform@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.

If you have any other questions, contact us.

Contract opportunities

We are keen to offer under-represented businesses such as SMEs and voluntary and community sector organisations the same opportunities to compete for our contracts as other qualified suppliers.

We publicise our contract opportunities on the following websites:

How to become a supplier

All of our contracts are awarded by competition between potential suppliers, unless there are compelling reasons why competition cannot be used.

If you want to compete for new contract opportunities, you should register on the Defra eCommercial website (Atamis).

If you were registered on our old eCommercial website (Bravo or Jaggaer), you will need to register again on Atamis.

Guidelines for an effective tender

How you prepare and present your tender proposal can be a crucial factor in securing a contract. You should:

  • read the invitation to tender (ITT) properly – understand fully what is being asked of you
  • respond in the required format – follow the layout requested, keep to the order for documents if one is given, send it to the person named and get the address right
  • give full answers – this is your only chance, so give solutions and answer the whole question, but be concise
  • be upfront – our ITT will be as honest about the requirement as possible
  • plan ahead to ensure you meet the deadline

Sustainable procurement

Defra is committed to procuring sustainably in accordance with the following policy statements and commitments:

To support its aims Defra seeks to minimise its own environmental impact. We aim to incorporate sustainable development into our thinking and our actions.

Government sustainability requirements

Suppliers should consider social, economic and environmental aspects of sustainability with reference to the standards listed below.

The government’s commitments for 2010 to 2015 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce waste, reduce water usage and procure more sustainably are set out in Greening Government Commitments: Operations and Procurement

The minimum level government buying standards are mandatory in central government. There are also voluntary, higher level best practice and class leader standards:

Defra is working to align the government buying standards with the EU’s Green Public Procurement (GPP) standards so that they are at least as good, if not better.

These budgets set the course for achieving the government’s 2050 target of an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050

This scheme operates a ‘cap and trade’ mechanism, providing a financial incentive to reduce energy use in large organisations by putting a price on carbon emissions. In CRC, organisations buy allowances equal to their annual emissions:

The EU’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive requires energy certificates for buildings on construction, sale and lease and large public sector buildings to display energy certificates to the public.

The Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) measures best practice in environmental design and management. Public sector bodies must achieve a rating of ‘excellent’ in new builds and at least ‘very good’ in major refurbishments.

Supporting small businesses

Defra recognises the important role of SMEs in delivering UK economic growth and prosperity. In March 2016, the government set a new aspirational target to award 33.3% of spend with third-party suppliers to SMEs by 2020.

Defra is committed to supporting this target. We encourage SMEs to bid for departmental business and we monitor the level of business SMEs receive from us directly (by winning contracts) or indirectly (by winning contracts with prime contractors or further down supply chains). In support of this commitment, Defra has published its Small and medium sized enterprises commercial plan (PDF, 793 KB, 14 pages)

We want as many SMEs as possible to compete for our contracts. If SMEs want further information about how to do so, please contact Defra Procurement at procurement@defra.gov.uk.

Terms and conditions

Read Defra’s current template terms and conditions for goods and services, including research and development.

Previous purchases

If you received a request for quote for a purchase below £10,000 before 6 November 2023, the following terms may apply:

For research and development purchases started before 13 December 2023, the team managing the purchase should have provided a copy of the terms.

Contact the procurement team if you have any questions: procurement@defra.gov.uk.

These terms are currently available to allow access to a copy of the previous templates as required. They may be removed from this page by the end of March 2024.

Identifying the relevant terms

Refer to the request for quote to see which terms and conditions apply.

If you are awarded a contract, you will receive an award letter following the conclusion of the quotation process. This will reference the relevant terms and contain details of the purchase.  

An order form will also be provided during the quotation process if the following terms apply: 

  • standard goods and services terms and conditions 
  • research and development terms and conditions

This form will be finalised at award stage with your details and the bid submitted. You should read the form alongside the terms and conditions, as it provides information you need for each specific purchase.    

Accepting the terms and conditions

To accept the offer of the contract award and the:  

  • low value terms and conditions, sign the award letter or accept in writing 
  • standard goods and services terms and conditions, sign the award letter and the order form
  • research and development terms and conditions, sign the award letter and the order form

Supplier days

Supplier days for specific contracting opportunities are publicised through the Contracts Finder and Find a Tender Service (FTS).

They represent an opportunity to explore combining with other potential suppliers to bring forward tenders in the ensuing competitions.

Competition

The Cabinet Office actively promote initiatives to reduce the bureaucracy involved in bidding for Government business and to make government contracts more attractive and accessible for smaller organisations. The Cabinet Office Efficiency and Reform Group provide details of measures announced to promote small business procurement.

Prompt payment to Defra suppliers

Defra aims to pay undisputed invoices within 5 days, in line with the government’s prompt payment policy.

To support this aim, Defra uses an automated scanning solution to speed up how they review and process invoices.

To help Defra efficiently process your invoice, please make sure you:

  • include a valid Defra purchase order number on your invoice
  • indicate the purchase order line number if you are invoicing an item from a multiple line purchase order
  • provide a quantity, unit rate, and meaningful description for each unit Defra is buying (where applicable)
  • send an email that is not bigger than 4MB
  • format all files as PDFs
  • attach all files directly to the email – for example, you should not attach folders
  • provide one PDF per invoice – all supporting documentation must be included within the single PDF
  • send your invoice to one email address only – do not copy in multiple addresses
  • do not send password protected files – these cannot be processed

You can attach multiple invoices to one email, but each invoice must be in a separate PDF.

Submit your invoice to the relevant email address:

Defra: apinvoices-def-u@gov.sscl.com

Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA): apinvoices-aph-u@gov.sscl.com

Marine Management Organisation (MMO):
apinvoices-mmo-u@gov.sscl.com

Rural Payments Agency (RPA): apinvoices-rpa-u@gov.sscl.com

In exceptional circumstances, suppliers may post invoices to the following address:

Shared Services Connected Limited

DEF Procure to Pay

PO Box 790

Newport

NP10 8FZ

Dun and Bradstreet numbers

Dun and Bradstreet numbers provide us with valuable information about which suppliers are bidding for our contracts. We require suppliers who are interested in bidding to register with Dun and Bradstreet numbers.

Crown Commercial Service

Defra also procure goods and services from the Crown Commercial Service.

How we process your personal data

Our Personal data processing: fair processing notice outlines the way we process your personal data relating to financial transactions. It explains that our services provider Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL) may process some of this data offshore.

Contact us

You can contact us by emailing procurement@defra.gov.uk

Defra Procurement Policy Team
Nobel House
17 Smith Square,
London,
SW1P 3JR

We value feedback from existing and prospective suppliers, and always look to improve procurement processes and customer–supplier relationships.

If you are a current or prospective supplier, and would like to provide feedback on our procurement processes, please contact our Procurement Policy Team. Any feedback you provide will have no influence whatsoever on your involvement in any future tendering opportunities with Defra or any other contracting authority, but we will always try to address any issues that are raised where we feel we can improve what we do.

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