Business Opportunities and Tenders

Kent Business Portal

If you're interested in doing business with us you are required to register with the Kent Business Portal. Tenders and quotations over £25,000 are advertised on this site. It's free to register and you will get email notifications of new opportunities.

Invitations to tender will be managed by the Kent Business Portal.

For contracts under £25,000 we use existing suppliers or identify relevant companies.

Subject to financial thresholds, advertisements are also placed on the Contracts Finder. As of 1 January 2021 these adverts will also appear on the Find a Tender website, which is the UK’s alternative to the OJEU and will be the new home for all high-value notices.

These adverts will instruct suppliers to register on the Kent Business Portal, download, and submit tender documents.

Contracts register

Under the Local Government Transparency code 2015, any commissioned activity, purchase order, framework agreement and any other legally enforceable agreement with a value that exceeds £5,000 must be published. We comply with this code via our contracts register which must be published on a quarterly basis. View our contracts register.

Financial thresholds

The financial thresholds listed below help guide us to choose the most appropriate procurement route.

Financial thresholds
Estimated contract value	Type of contract	Procedure
Under £25,000	Works, supplies or services	Obtain at least one written quotation
£25,000 to £189,330	Works, supplies or services	At least three written quotations/tenders
£189,330 or more	Supplies and services	At least five written tenders**
£189,330 to £4,733,252	Works	At least five written tenders**
£4,733,252 or more	Works	At least five written tenders**

Note:

** EU rules apply
Some specific services are subject to a 'light-touch' regime under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015

What we buy

We buy a wide variety of good and services for use by all departments within the council. Some examples include the following:

Goods and services bought by Ashford Borough Council
Goods	Services	Works
Clothing	Accommodation	Building maintenance
Computer hardware and software	Banking services	Construction
Sport and gym equipment	Catering and hospitality	Repairs
Litter bins	Courier and postage	Refurbishment
Stationery	Printing	Car parks
Play equipment	Marketing and event management	Property new builds
Vehicles	HR services
	Training and development services

Who does the buying?

We have a Procurement and Contract Management team that help us to spend public money better. The team provide procurement and contract advice and support and guide council officers through the process of appointing a supplier. This includes helping with specifications, advice on how to gain quotes or tenders and monitoring the contract effectively. Every officer of the council must comply with the contract procedure rules whenever they take part in procurement.

The government has produced a comprehensive guide called 'Sell goods or services to the Public Sector'. This guidance provides practical advice on the procurement process, procurement regulations and helps suppliers understand the tendering process for public sector contracts.

Community Right to Challenge

Under the community right to challenge (included within the Localism Act 2011) a broad range of alternative service providers can submit an expression of interest to run a service, with the potential to trigger a council procurement exercise.

We will consider expressions of interest that are submitted and that meet the statutory criteria as set out in the relevant regulations. These submissions must be received in line with the following dates set out in the report Amendments to the Councils Community Right to Challenge Procedure [pdf] 70KB.

For multi-year contracted services of two years or more

The time frame during which Ashford Borough Council will accept the submission of an Expression of Interest will be a one month period ending 18 months before the date of the end of the contract (ignoring any extension to the contract granted under its terms).

For contracted services where the contract term is between 10 months and one day to two years

The time frame during which Ashford Borough Council will accept the submission of an Expression of Interest will be a one month period ending nine months before the date of the end of the contract (ignoring any extension to the contract granted under its terms).

The end dates of our contracts can be found in our Contracts Register, which is updated quarterly. You can download them from the links list below:

Procurement Strategy

In 2012 the council identified the need to establish a specialist procurement function and procedures within the authority. The aim was to promote effective procurement across the whole organisation, using innovative, sustainable, consistent and modern procurement methods.

View Ashford Borough Council's Procurement Strategy [pdf] 197KB.