Purchasing

Policies for suppliers

Suppliers and potential suppliers will be expected to abide by the policies and terms below.

General conditions of contract

Coventry University has its own terms and conditions of contract that operate across the group and provide the legal framework for all of our procurement transactions. These can be viewed in our Coventry University Terms and Conditions of Supply.

Equality

Coventry University is an equal opportunity employer and service provider that is committed to actively opposing discrimination and promoting equality. The Institution has an equally strong commitment to providing equality of opportunity to all and therefore requires all suppliers of goods and services to the University to demonstrate equal commitment and to conform to provisions of current equality legislation. This currently covers age, disability, gender, race (including nationality), religion or belief and sexual orientation.

Freedom of Information Act

Coventry University is a public authority for the purposes of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 and has a legal duty to comply with the provisions of this legislation. As part of our obligations under the FOI Act. it may be necessary for the University to disclose information provided by you in relation to enquiries/tenders or agreements/contracts to third parties following a request for access in accordance with the legislation. Information that is genuinely confidential or commercially sensitive may be exempt from the right of access. Therefore if you consider that any of the information supplied by you, in connection with the above is confidential or commercially sensitive, you should clearly identify it and explain (in broad terms) what harm may result from disclosure of it and you should indicate any time limits that may apply to the sensitivity of the information. If you consider that any other exemption may apply, you should identify it and explain why the relevant information should not be disclosed to a third party in response to a request for information under the Act.

The reasons you have given for such confidentiality and/or sensitivity and/or other exemption will be taken into account by the University when considering a request for access under the Act to the information provided by you. The University, however, cannot guarantee that any exemption will apply and that it may be required to disclose under the Act information received from you if a request is received. As such please note that the receipt by the University of any material marked ‘confidential’ or equivalent or alluded to as confidential in any reply you may make to the University should not be taken to mean that the University accepts any duty of confidence by virtue of that marking or indication. If a request is received, we may also be required to disclose details of unsuccessful tenders.

Purchasing Environmental policy

The Purchasing unit recognises the significant influence that procurement may have on environmental performance, and therefore we are committed to minimising the environmental effects of purchasing at Coventry University. To reflect our own environmental practices, we will endeavour to promote and conduct various activities, which enable the implementation of the University’s Environmental Policy, pursue sustainability, and deliver continuous environmental performance improvements.

The key objectives of this policy are:

To ensure that suppliers and contractors actively support the University’s Environmental Policy. In turn, suppliers and contractors are asked to give details of their own environmental performance when requested to by the University.
To ensure on behalf of the University that wherever possible environmentally assured suppliers and contractors are utilised.
To encourage all Faculties, Schools, Departments and Service areas to include environmental considerations or recommendations in all requests for quotations and invitations to tender made by the University.
To work with Schools and Departments to develop awareness of environmental choices in purchases where expenditure falls below £500.
To integrate environmental policy into the University’s procurement training programmes for all personnel whose activities may have a significant environmental impact.
To prioritise and establish demanding but achievable and measurable environmental purchasing performance targets that will be reviewed and reported upon annually.
To ensure that at all times we meet and where appropriate exceed, all UK, European and International legislative requirements and agreements.

Key policy activities

In order to address these objectives, the following will apply to purchasing activities:

All invitations to tender will include appropriate environmental requirements, as outlined in the Purchasing policies and procedures.
All tender evaluations will include appropriate life cycle costings to assess the environmental costs over the life of the products/services offered.
All contracts managed by the Purchasing unit will meet appropriate standards of environmental performance detailed our Purchasing plicies and procedures.