Procurement and Tenders

Staff discussing procurement and tenders.

The Procurement Service is based within the Finance Department of City of Glasgow College.

City of Glasgow College is committed to obtaining value for money in all its procurement activities and ensuring that the procurement of goods, services and works adheres to the College’s Procurement Strategy and Financial Regulations.

An infographic showing facts an figures from our procurement service for 2021-22.

Contracts and APUC

City of Glasgow College is a member of Advanced Procurement for Universities and Colleges (APUC) Ltd which is the Procurement Centre of Expertise for 62 Universities and Colleges. APUC Ltd works collaboratively with Universities and Colleges in setting up contracts on behalf of the Higher and Further Education Sectors in Scotland.  City of Glasgow College makes appropriate use of these contracts. The College also has access to the following:

  • National Higher and Further Education Contracts.
  • Scottish Public Sector Contracts established by Scottish Procurement (Scottish Procurement and Commercial Directorate); and
  • Government Procurement Service (formerly Buying Solutions) Contracts.

Where the College requires goods, services or works that are not covered by agreements set up by the above, the College complies with limits stipulated in the College Financial Regulations and Procurement Procedures as well as Procurement Regulations.

SMEs

City of Glasgow College is encouraging smaller and local businesses to bid for contracts. We encourage businesses to seek guidance from the Supplier Development Programme (SDP), a business support initiative that uses training and information to improve the competitiveness of local businesses. 

SDP helps support businesses to become tender ready for public procurement. Once your business is registered you can access all the support they provide for free. It provides a range of free tender training workshops, aimed at helping small and medium sized enterprise (SMEs) and third sector organisations who are interested in bidding for public sector contracts. 

Training is delivered through workshops and webinars. Courses include how to find and bid for opportunities, completing the Single Procurement Document (SPD) and improving your bid score. If you are interested in accessing this service, please go the SDP website.

Advertising Our Requirements

In line with Scottish Government guidelines, the College will advertise all open tenders above £50,000 on Public Contracts Scotland and through Public Contacts Scotland – Tender the Scottish Public Sector eTendering Tool.

Suppliers should register with Public Contracts Scotland to be alerted to any procurement opportunities within the College.

Current Contracts

The Colleges Contract Register is available to view.

College Terms and Conditions

City of Glasgow College’s Term and Conditions are used for high and low-level purchases. 

No Purchase Order / No Payment

The College is formalising its Procurement and Finance processes to support a more efficient 'Purchase to Pay' process. As a direct result of this, the majority of orders for goods and services will now require to be placed using an official purchase order from the College’s electronic procurement system, PECOS.

The purchase order placed will provide details of the requirement, the delivery and invoice addresses, and will specifically contain a 4 letter, 5 digit purchase order number (CITY12345) which must be quoted on any invoice submitted for payment. Where an invoice is submitted without a valid purchase order number quoted it will not be processed or paid.

Payment

Unless specific contract terms have been agreed, the College’s standard payment terms are 30 days from receipt of a valid invoice, and an invoice will only be deemed valid if a purchase order number is quoted upon it. If an invoice is submitted without a purchase order number it will remain unprocessed unless this number is provided. This will result in an indefinite delay in payment.

It is therefore in a supplier’s best interest to ensure that they obtain a purchase order prior to the provision of goods or delivery of service and that they quote this number on their subsequent invoice. If a purchase order is not received, the supplier should contact the member of College staff who gave the instruction for the goods/service to request it.

Procurement Strategy

All contracting authorities with an annual regulated procurement spend above or equal to £5 million must produce an organisational procurement strategy under section 15 of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.

This Procurement Strategy outlines our strategic approach to procuring goods, works and services, people's responsibilities and how we intend to manage procurement in the future.

The current Procurement Strategy and Action Plan was approved by the Finance and Physical Resources Committee and covers the period 2022 -2026.

Annual Procurement Report

The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 requires all contracting authorities who are obliged to publish a Procurement Strategy to also prepare and publish an Annual Report on its regulated procurement activity. 

City of Glasgow College's Annual Procurement Report was approved by our Finance Committee on 27 November 2024 and covers the period August 2023 - July 2024.

Contact Us

Any questions relating to the procurement of goods and services should be directed in the first instance to: