Suppliers' information
How Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority buys goods and
services
Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority is
responsible for Kent Fire and Rescue Service which spent
approximately £18.4 million in 2008/2009 on a wide range of goods
and services.
The service must ensure that the money it receives through
taxation is used as carefully as possible and that it achieves best
value in the use of this money. A significant proportion of the
service's expenditure is therefore spent under contracts which have
been subject to reasonable competition.
The service undertakes joint procurement with other fire
authorities in the South East Region and also, as a member of the
Kent Buying Consortium, undertakes joint contracting with other
local authorities in Kent. The service also makes use of contracts
awarded by other bodies on behalf of public sector authorities,
such as the Central Buying Consortium, OGC Buying Solutions, LASER,
Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO) etc.
The following thresholds apply to requirements for the external
supply of goods, services or works:
| Value of potential contract |
Requirement |
| £2,500 to £25,000 |
A minimum of three quotations |
| £25,000 to £50,000 |
A minimum of three tenders |
| Over £50,000 and up to EU Directive level of £139,893 for goods
or services; or over £3,497,313 for works |
Formal tendering by public advert in line with regulations and
implementing EU procedure when the threshold applies |