Departments should make use of Framework Contracts approved by Procurement Services. These Framework Contracts have been set up with suppliers either by Procurement Services against criteria agreed with the University's commodity purchasing groups, by the wider community or external agencies, including the Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium (SUPC) and the Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO).

Framework contracts benefit the University through:

• the aggregation of spend, which enables better pricing;
• the service being monitored through a dedicated Contract Manager;
• pre-agreed procedures and contract terms, which minimize duplication of effort and resource time (See Selecting Suppliers).

Many of these agreements are available on the UFS Marketplace (see UFS), such that there is no need to seek any other quotations for catalogue items below £25,000. For all other Framework Contracts the procedures recommended by Procurement Services for that contract need to be followed.

Procurement Services holds details of approved Framework Contracts set up by Procurement Services, other agencies and by the University's commodity purchasing groups.

See Procurement Services website. [1]

University specialists will also be pleased to advise on the best deals for the following product groups: