• Working on a PC
  • Looking through a window to the Wallace Monument
  • Palm Pilot
  • Castle Business Park
You are in: Business » Contracts » Jargon Buster

Procurement - Jargon Buster

Procurement
The acquisition by purchase, lease, rent, hire, transfer, loan or other legal means of the goods, services and works required and/or used by an organisation.

EU Legislation
EU Public Procurement Directives, which are the rules and regulations that public sector organisations must comply with when completing any procurement process.

OJEU
Official Journal of the European Union, where every procurement process in excess of the OJEU thresholds must be advertised.  OJEU thresholds for 2004/05 are as follows:

Supplies - £139,893
Services - £139,893
Works - £3,497,313

Contract Standing Orders
Stirling Council's internal control procedures for procurement and contracting.

OJEU Tender
The most formal and complex of all procurement processes for requirements with a total aggregated value in excess of the thresholds detailed in the OJEU section above.

Tender
Formal procurement process for all requirements with an aggregated value of between £60,000 and £139,893 (Goods or Services) or £3,497,313 (Works), with very detailed and specific documentation, but where the timetable is more flexible than in an OJEU process.

RFQ
Request for Quotation.  A formal procurement process for all requirements up to a total aggregated value of £59,999.99, where the documentation issued is less detailed and less specific than is used for tenders.  An RFQ process is the least formal of the procurement processes.

Purchasing Card
A payment card issued to staff that may be used to purchase goods and/or services up to an agreed value from certain suppliers.  Although similar in operation, it is not a credit card that can be used anywhere and there is no credit facility. For suppliers' the important fact is that typically payment in full will be made direct to their bank accounts within three working days, thereby improving their cash flow.  There are also other benefits for suppliers.  Click here for more information on purchasing cards

Total Aggregated Value
The total value of the overall requirement over the contract term.  Individual or annual values are irrelevant where goods, services or works are of the same type or have similar characteristics.  The total value of the contract must be used when deciding which process.

FOI
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.