Following on from an internal audit of procurement activity at the University of Kent (UoK), a recommendation was made to have all contracts at UoK stored centrally in one place.
Currently this is managed by Procurement who hold a record of all known and tendered contracts via the Universities Contract Database and also on the Governments Contracts Finder and Find a Tender Service. However, it has been highlighted then if central procurement had not been initially involved with any new contracts then it was unlikely that these contracts would be on the Contracts Database.
In order to ensure that UoK meets these requirements, Procurement is reaching out to all Schools and Departments for all and any current contracts that they may be in possession of in order to obtain this information and publish this onto our Contracts Database as part of a ‘Contract Amnesty’.
During this Contract Amnesty, Procurement will be looking to obtain the details of each contact and any associated paperwork in order to upload a copy to our own database. At this stage, Procurement are less interested in how these contracts were entered into, whether via a compliant or non-compliant process but the aim will be to raise awareness, improve the visibility of contracts at UoK and maintain compliance with the Public Contracts Regulations.
To confirm, a Contract will mean a formal written agreement between UoK and another supplier(s) / organisation(s) that involves the commitment to provide goods / services / works to / on behalf the University.
Why is this important and what are the benefits?:
Not only is this a legal requirement but there are also many benefits by having all of our contracts centrally stored in one place.
i) Contracts will stay organised so you can find them when you need them.
ii) Help facilitate an improved contract management process
iii) Ability to proactively monitor contract expiry dates, renewals milestones and other obligations
Improved transparency and compliance
How to respond to our Contract Amnesty:
If you believe that you may be in possession of a contract that Procurement are not aware of or is currently not on our Contracts Database, please contact Procurement with the following information:
– The name of the contract
– The details of the supplier including contact details
– Details of the contract period
– All of the supporting contract documentation
Deadline:
The Contract Amnesty will be in place until 31st May 2023. After this period of time, all schools and departments will be required to liaise directly with Procurement before entering into any new contractual agreements.