Dowloads:
Procurement policy

Purchasing

Providing a central purchasing function - guidance, help and advice on the procurement of goods and services for the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Contacts

Miss Cathy Harrison B.A., PgDip. – Purchasing Officer
Tel No. 0151-705-3237
e-mail c.harrison@liverpool.ac.uk

Responsibilities
Purchasing policy and procedures, major contracts and general advice regarding purchasing.

Mrs Lynn Abernethy – Purchasing Clerk
Tel No. 0151-705-3320
e-mail lynnabo@liverpool.ac.uk

Mr Steve Revill – Purchasing Clerk
Tel No. 0151-705-3244
e-mail s.j.revill@liverpool.ac.uk

Responsibilities
Front line staff liaising between requisitioners and suppliers, as regards order processing and receipt of goods, training of requisitioners & general advice on purchasing.

Purchasing Office General Fax no. 0151-705-3298

Aim
Good procurement practice and the principles of good procurement management for all equipment, consumables and services for research, teaching and administration in order to gain best value in the procurement process in line with the mission of the School of Tropical Medicine.

What is good procurement?
Good procurement means getting value for money – that is, buying a product that is fit for purpose, taking account of the whole-life cost. A good procurement process should also be delivered efficiently, to limit the time and expense for the parties involved. Successful procurement is good for the requisitioner, the supplier and the institution.
While there is no single method that will guarantee the delivery of those objectives for all procurements, the following general principles set out some of the key steps to successful procurement.

There are 3 basic elements, which influence the decision to acquire an item or undertake a project:-

Qualitative judgements - which cover the views of all those involved in the procurement process about what really matters when weighing up options. These intuitive judgements are very important when it comes to making a decision but in most institutions they are not made explicit or discussed during the consultation process.
Fitness for purpose - does the specification meet the users’ requirements.
Whole life cost - that is, an estimate of all costs over the likely useful life of the item or project.

By combining these three elements, institutions should be able to make procurement decisions based on an explicit understanding of the needs and preferences of users, and the whole life of the proposed acquisition. There will still be occasions when, because of budgetary pressures, institutions choose to base a procurement decision on initial capital cost rather than whole life costing. In these cases, institutions which have followed the approach outlined here will have an audit trail which make explicit the reasons for their decision.

Membership of the NorthWest Universities Purchasing Consortium (NWUPC)

The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine is an active member of the NorthWest Universities Purchasing Consortium (NWUPC), whose strategy focuses on the following key objectives:-

To make full use of the Consortium's purchasing power to maximize benefit for its member institutions.

To minimize the cost to the member institutions of implementing the strategy.

To develop purchasing staff within the NWUPC and its member institutions.

To enable the Consortium to play a full and constructive part in national Higher Education purchasing initiatives.

External Supplier Information

Doing business with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Policy and Procedure documents:-

a) Procurement policy

b) General conditions of purchase